Daily Mail: Police blame vicious Melbourne street brawl on Sudanese Apex gang
Group rioted in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday night at Moomba festival
Police revealed they have been looking into Apex group for four months
Riot brought city to a standstill as men ran through streets causing chaos
A tip off about a vicious gang brawl that tore through the streets of Melbourne was dismissed as ‘s**t’ by senior officers only hours before up to 100 gang members brutally attacked each other.
A concerned member of the public called Triple Zero on Saturday at around 6pm warning of an imminent riot, which were disregarded as ‘s**t’ by senior members of Victoria Police, the Age reported.
The primarily Sudanese-based Apex gang were filmed causing chaos on Saturday night as more than 100 members clashed in Federation Square and on Swanston Street in front of families attending a Moomba community event.
The Apex gang had threatened on social media to return and run amok again on Sunday night but police managed to disperse the group.
Earlier reports indicated that two rival gangs were involved in the widespread altercation, however police have now suggested that the incident involved only one group – which is predominantly comprised of members from Sudan but is also made up of people from the Pacific Islands and other nations in West Africa.
Four people were arrested over the incident on Saturday, which forced the closure of Swanston Street and brought trams to a standstill.
Police have arrested 33 members of the Apex gang in the past four months for burglary, assault and car theft before the violent brawl took place on Saturday night in Melbourne’s Federation Square, the ABC reported.
