Latest news with #youthgangs
ABC News
27-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Seven males arrested and charged over alleged planned gang fight at Northland shopping centre in Melbourne
Police have arrested and charged a total of seven people involved in an allegedly planned gang fight with machetes at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north on Sunday. Detectives say they initially believed eight people were involved in the incident that broke out just after 2:30pm on Sunday at the Preston centre's food court, but have since clarified that seven people were involved. "Police will allege this was a planned fight between two rival youth gangs, with thankfully no innocent bystanders hurt," a police statement said. "Those arrested were all known gang members and known to police." Frightened shoppers fled Northland during the incident amid instructions to evacuate. Security camera footage indicates the incident lasted for approximately 2 minutes, with around 40 local police and specialist units, including the Public Order Response Team and Critical Incident Response Team arriving within minutes, police said. Since the incident, the state government has fast-tracked a ban on the sale of machetes, which takes effect from midday on Wednesday. Two teenage males — aged 15 and 16 — who police allege to be the primary offenders, were arrested at the scene. The pair have been charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, possessing a controlled weapon and using a controlled weapon. They are in custody and have faced a children's court. Two men — an 18-year-old from Bundoora and a 20-year-old from Thornbury — were arrested on Tuesday and will both face Heidleberg Magistrates' Court on July 15 charged with affray and intentionally causing injury. An 18-year-old Thornhill Park man was arrested on Tuesday night, charged with affray and weapons offences and is scheduled to face Heidelberg Magistrates' Court today. Two other young males were arrested on Wednesday morning: an 18-year-old from Derrimut charged with affray and intentionally causing injury, and a 21-year-old from Kew who was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening head injuries from the incident. The Kew man was charged with affray, intentionally causing injury and committing an indictable offence while on bail. Police said officers would be patrolling the Northland shopping centre area over the coming days and weekends and that local police would work with the centre's management and retail staff to reassure them. "Victoria Police continues to relentlessly pursue, disrupt and dismantle the state's worst youth gangs as part of Operation Alliance," police said. Police say in the past year, Operation Alliance has led to the arrest of 473 youth gang members a combined 1,731 times, with more than 4,400 charges laid in relation to these matters.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- BBC News
Australia fast-tracks first-ever machete ban after weekend attack
A fight involving machetes at a Melbourne shopping centre has prompted an Australian state to fast-track the country's first-ever ban on the weapon's sale. The ban - to start in Victoria this Wednesday, instead of September - comes after two gangs attacked each other at Northland shopping centre in Preston on Sunday afternoon. A man, 20, remains in hospital in a serious premier said the ban will "choke the supply", adding "the community shouldn't have to deal with these weapons in their shopping centres - neither should our police".Two boys, aged 16 and 15, were on Sunday charged with affray, intentionally causing injury, and possession and use of a controlled weapon. On Monday, police said two men, aged 20 and 18, had also been arrested and were being interviewed. All four people were known to police previously. "This was a planned fight between two rival youth gangs with no innocent bystanders hurt," said deputy commissioner David Clayton. "Fortunately, these events are not very commonplace in Victoria," he said, adding that youth knife crime is "rare" but "frightening".Clayton said one in 10 knife crimes in the state are committed by young people, and often happen in public places. Emergency services were called to the shopping centre in Preston - about 11km (seven miles) north of Melbourne - just after 14:30 local time (05:30 BST) on Sunday after reports of up to 10 people fighting. Police said the investigation "remains ongoing" and more arrests are expected. Three of the four machetes used during the attack have been seized, police Premier Jacinta Allan described the attack as "appalling". "We must never let the places where we gather - where families come together, to meet, to shop, to enjoy the peace of their weekend - become the places we fear," Allan said at a press conference. "It took the United Kingdom 18 months to bring about a ban on machetes and we are moving to do it within six months," she March, Victoria announced legislative changes to its Control of Weapons Act, making it illegal to sell or possess machetes, with the new law to start in September. The ban covers machetes, which are broadly defined as "knives with a cutting blade longer than 20cm". It does not include knives primarily used in kitchens.A three-month amnesty from September means anyone with a machete can place them in specially designated boxes at police stations. Police also thanked a man who held down one of the alleged offenders until police arrived, saying he "performed an outstanding job", but added they don't encourage the public to become involved in such incidents. In England and Wales, a ban on "zombie-style" knives and machetes was introduced last September, making it illegal to own, make, transport or sell a wide range of "statement" knives favoured by criminal gangs.
SBS Australia
25-05-2025
- SBS Australia
Teen arrested, one seriously injured after machete gang fight at Melbourne shopping centre
Two people have been arrested and a third man hospitalised after a machete brawl between youth gang members at a shopping centre in Melbourne's north. Police and paramedics were called to Northland Shopping Centre in Preston just after 2:30pm on Sunday, following reports of several people fighting each other and wielding machetes. The shopping centre was put into lockdown, with shoppers hiding inside stores as police swarmed the scene. The centre remains closed while police continue investigations. Two people have been arrested, including a 15-year-old boy who was taken into custody at the scene. Victoria Police said eight other people were in the process of being identified. One man has been taken to hospital with serious but stable injuries. "There was two rival gangs," Superintendent Kelly Lawson said in a press conference on Sunday evening. "They had a pre-meeting to meet up at the shopping centre where there was an affray, so in effect, a fight between those two rival gangs." Lawson said the incident was perhaps "an act of retaliation". "This was not just some random thing that happened. It was a pre-organised gang meet-up." She said that members of the public, including children, witnessed the altercation. "Members of the public — it would have been absolutely frightening to witness what they saw today on a Sunday afternoon. Parents with their children. [It's] absolutely frightening and they should not have been exposed to what we saw here today." There were no firearms involved in the incident. Investigators are hoping to speak with anyone in the area at the time and who may have witnessed the incident. Lawson said there were around 40 youth gangs in Victoria and the police force was doing what it could to combat its growth.
