Increased Police Presence Across Melbourne CBD Ahead of 4 Protests on Weekend

A senior officer has described people using legitimate protest to mask violent intent as ‘gutless’ and says there will be an increased presence this weekend.

March For Australia protesters and counter-protestors clash on Aug. 31, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Victoria Police say they believe four different groups are planning demonstrations in Melbourne’s central business district (CBD) this weekend and are concerned there may be more violent clashes in a repeat of what happened on Aug. 31 during the “March for Australia” rallies.

A “Rally against Racism” is scheduled to start near Flinders Street Station at 11 a.m. on Sept. 13. The group aims to support migrants and protest the attack on the Aboriginal protest site Camp Sovereignty by the Nationalist Socialist Network, a neo-Nazi group.

At the same time, another rally headed by Indigenous Australians will begin, called “Sovereignty never ceded,” at the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets as part of a “national day of action against racism.”

An hour later, two marches with philosophies opposed to the earlier two are set to begin—the “Australia unites against government corruption” rally and “Save Australia” rally against mass immigration. Both events are set to start outside Parliament House on Spring Street.

In a statement released on Sept. 10, police said their role was to “maintain public order and prevent breaches of the peace” and that “anyone who is attending these events to cause trouble or behave violently can expect to be arrested.”

Police have admitted officers had no forewarning of an attack on Camp Sovereignty, just outside the CBD two weeks ago.

They have subsequently charged seven men, including the group’s leader, Thomas Sewell, with offences related to the incident in King’s Domain. He has been denied bail and so will not be at this weekend’s events.

CBD Will Be a Designated Area

To improve their ability to deal with a potential repeat of the clashes between rival groups, police have declared a large part of the city a designated area on Saturday, giving themselves greater powers to search people and vehicles for weapons and demand protesters remove face coverings.

The area encompasses all the land bordered by Flinders Street, Spring Street, Latrobe Street, and Spencer Street.

Police would not give specific details about how many officers would be on duty and where they would be deployed on Saturday, but said they had reassured Camp Sovereignty organisers that there would be no repeat of the attack.

“We want to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Superintendent Troy Papworth told reporters. “At the time, we didn’t have the intelligence to suggest there were going to be any issues at Camp Sovereignty so, at the time, police weren’t there. [It] is absolutely front of mind for us in making sure that people are safe.

“Due to the violence we saw on the streets of Melbourne two weeks ago and our intelligence pointing towards these groups again intent on coming together and clashing, police have no choice but to put together a significant police response.”

Papworth said the National Socialist Network could attend any of the protests again.

“We’ve got groups here who are coming together with extremist, right-wing ideology,” he said.

He criticised those who used lawful protests as a cover for intentional violent clashes with opposing groups, describing them as “gutless.”

“What we’re seeing is these people using the excuse of lawful and peaceful protest to come together and commit violence against one another,” he said, pointing out that some demonstrators came to the event wearing motocross armour, clearly intending to become involved in violence.

Victoria Police said 20 people were arrested either on Aug. 31, or in the days after, in relation to the protest violence. They are now banned from the CBD.