Fires, injuries as rogue fireworks incidents explode during Melbourne’s NYE celebrations

2 months ago 23

Rogue fireworks caused chaos during New Year’s Eve celebrations and machete violence erupted on a famous dining strip, as hundreds of police patrolled the streets during a night of relative civility in Melbourne.

The Universal Restaurant on Lygon Street in Carlton was cordoned off by police tape in the early hours of New Year’s Day, after panicked revellers called triple zero to report a stabbing about 15 minutes before midnight.

Police at the scene of the Carlton stabbing on New Year’s Day.

A group of up to seven males, armed with machetes and knives, set upon two men outside a restaurant, leaving them with serious injuries, police said.

The pair – an 18-year-old NSW man, and a 20-year-old man from Heidelberg West in Melbourne’s north-east – was taken to hospital, while the suspects fled in vehicles before officers arrived.

Melbourne crime investigation unit detectives were investigating whether the attack was targeted.

Earlier that night, fireworks ignited a garden bed on the roof of the Treasury Place building in East Melbourne, with flames visible from nearby buildings after the 9.30pm fireworks display in the CBD.

Police said there was “minimal property damage”, and nobody was injured in that blaze – but it was one of 313 fireworks-related incidents reported overnight, some of which resulted in serious injuries.

A 31-year-old man from Mickleham in Melbourne’s north was hospitalised with serious facial injuries after fireworks went awry, and another man – a 43-year-old from Corio in Geelong – was hospitalised with a serious finger injury, police said.

At the Dromana Drive-In on the Mornington Peninsula, tightly packed New Year’s Eve revellers stood and watched as a grassfire ignited by fireworks sent up tall orange flames and large plumes of smoke metres behind movie screens.

On the Great Ocean Road, police questioned a 16-year-old boy in Lorne after a flare was set off in the middle of crowds during the planned 9.30pm fireworks.

Officers said it was disappointing that people across the state took risks with illegal and dangerous fireworks.

They arrested 18 people overnight for various offences including assaults, driving and property offences, and detected two drink drivers who were about double the limit – in Sorrento, one blew 0.123, and another blew 0.90 in Altona. A second driver in Sorrento blew 0.78.

Police also detected two drug drivers: one from Altona, and another from Cape Woolamai in Phillip Island.

“Overwhelmingly we saw great behaviour by crowds overnight with people heeding our advice to celebrate safely and responsibly,” New Year’s Eve state policing commander Belinda Jones said.

“There was a small number of people who took it too far and chose to do the wrong thing. All reported incidents were resolved quickly ensuring no disruption to the wider community.”

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated New Year’s Eve in Melbourne, and 500 police were rostered on in the inner-city to patrol celebrations. They were among a total of more than 2300 officers.

Police had powers to search anyone for weapons in Melbourne’s CBD, St Kilda and Geelong under “designated area” rules, and found one 17-year-old boy at Flinders Street Station with an angle grinder, balaclava, gloves and other items suspected to be used for breaking and entering.

He was charged and bailed to appear in a children’s court at a later date.

Three separate alleged offenders set upon a 15-year-old boy on Southbank Promenade in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when he was punched in the face and lost a tooth.

In another incident, a police helicopter and highway patrol chased down a hooning car in Melbourne’s south-west, ultimately thwarting the 15-year-old, 23-year-old and 26-year-old occupants with stop-sticks at Williams Landing.

Police urged anyone with information about incidents on New Year’s Eve to contact Crime Stoppers.

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