A VICIOUS New Year's Eve bashing has been caught on video as police arrested hundreds of revellers for drunkenness, drugs, assault and offensive behaviour.
The attack, believed to have been recorded on a phone, shows a man being repeatedly punched while he lies on the road in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont overnight.
A young man wearing a white cap appears to chase the man and push him down on to the road and, while others watch on, punch the victim again and again.
NSW Police are yet to identify the incident, which may have ended with the assailant getting away.
Police on the NSW South Coast arrested a man dressed in camouflage clothing carrying two knives who pointed a replica Glock pistol at officers on a Bega street.
In Victoria, police arrested 238 people overnight as hundreds of revellers converged on Melbourne's CBD to watch the fireworks display. The arrests included 99 for being drunk, 22 for drugs and 23 reported assaults. The figure was 30 per cent up on last year when 183 people were arrested in Victoria on New Year's Eve 2016.
"Generally, we saw great behaviour by the crowds overnight, which was encouraging," Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp said on Monday.
"There were a small number of people who did the wrong thing but they were dealt with by police so they didn't spoil it for others."
The crowds filling Melbourne's Treasury Gardens, Kings Domain and Docklands for the fireworks display were not deterred by the fatal vehicle attack near Flinders Street Station just 10 days ago, or the November arrest of a Werribee man for allegedly plotting a New Year's Eve terror attack at locations including Federation Square.
In Sydney, seven people were arrested for assault offences and six people for a number of other offences including offensive behaviour and affray.
Operation Narimba saw police around Sydney Harbour from the Public Order and Riot Squad, Police Transport Command, Operations Support Group, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Licensing Police, Mounted Unit, Dog Unit, Marine Area Command and PolAir.
Operation Narimba commander, Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton, said the operation so far was successful in allowing millions of Sydneysiders and visitors to enjoy their celebrations with family and friends.
"Prime vantage points filled up fast around the Sydney foreshore early in the evening and while a number of incidents occurred, most people were well behaved," Assistant Commissioner Walton said.
At about 8pm on Sunday night in Bega, police approached a man walking along a street dressed in camouflage clothing and wearing a thigh holster with what appeared to be a pistol.
Far South Coast Local Area Command officers drove a fully marked police car towards the man who allegedly drew the firearm from the holster and pointed it at them.
The officers withdrew to another street and when another fully marked police car drove up to the man, he again allegedly pointed the firearm at the windscreen.
This car reversed away, and then the four officers from the two vehicles approached the man and directed him to drop the firearm, which he did.
He was allegedly carrying a replica Glock pistol, a 20cm Gurkha fighting knife and a concealed knife.
Steven James Carder, 29, was charged with four counts of assault police, two of custody of a knife in a public place, possession of an unauthorised pistol and armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
He was refused bail to appear at Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday.
At around 6pm on Sunday, Shoalhaven Local Area Command responded to reports of what was believed to be shots fired at a property in Morton, 250km south of Sydney.
Officers arrested a 52-year-old man driving a vehicle off the property, and seized cannabis, knives and fireworks.
They breath-tested the man who allegedly blew .07 and expect to charge him with low-range drink driving.
A shot was also allegedly fired into a house at Chester Hill in western Sydney, where a crime scene was established but no one was reportedly injured.
At Cobar in central western NSW, police seized 114 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a property and are continuing with investigations.
Six people, including a teenage boy, were injured by fireworks, some of them illegal.
Outside Melbourne, three men were injured by illegal fireworks, one of them seriously after a firework exploded in his hand.
Two other men were also injured in separate firework incidents in the western Melbourne suburb of Melton and at St Leonards, near Geelong.
A 17-year-old teenage boy sustained serious burns after a firework exploded in Cromer Heights in northern Sydney at about 11.40pm.
He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital for treatment.
Four days before New Year's Eve police seized almost 150kg of illegal fireworks from a northern Sydney property.
Anyone caught selling, purchasing or letting off fireworks without a licence faces a fine of more than $27,000 and 12 months in prison.
In South Australia, almost 100 people were arrested and another 11 reported but police say New Year's revellers across the state were generally well behaved. Thousands gathered at Adelaide's two major events, at Elder Park and at seaside Glenelg, and Assistant Commissioner Linda Fellows said there were no major incidents.
"What this means is that while there were individuals that made some poor choices, most people were able to have a great night without attracting the attention of police," she said.
