News & Views

Sub-lethal

Statement of Concern: Policing of the ‘March For Australia’ and Counter-Rallies

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern about the actions of Victoria Police on Sunday 31 August 2025 in Melbourne and failure to mitigate risks posed by neo-Nazis. Summary MALS observed that police operational tactics deployed on the day, which focused solely upon separating opposing groups, resulted in a failure to adequately manage the intimidating,…

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Legal Observer Report: The Policing of the Disrupt Land Forces (DLF) Protests

This report details areas of concern from observations made by Melbourne Activist Legal Support across the four days of protests at the Disrupt Land Forces expo, including police use of force and weaponry, special powers, arrests, treatment of legal observers, media narratives and strategic misinformation.

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Statement of Concern: Police use of projectile weapons

Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS) expresses concern regarding use of projectile weapons at Melbourne protest on 21 August 2021. Pepper ball rounds were confirmed to have been used by Victoria Police during the “anti-lock down protest” at various locations in Melbourne’s central business district on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 August, 2021. Photo and video…

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Victoria Police Weapon ID guide

This guide is to help journalists, legal and human rights observers identify weapons that are currently available to Victoria Police. This is not an exhaustive list. It includes weapons used in crowd-control / public-order management contexts.  The guide is available to download as a foldable A4 leaflet here (PDF). VKS Pepper ball firearm A 175…

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