Police return to St Kilda foreshore to crackdown on violence
Police have returned to the St Kilda foreshore for a second night in a bid to curb violence as Melbourne swelters through another scorchingly hot evening.
Sixteen people were arrested on Thursday night for a variety of offences, including drunkenness in a public place, possessing a drug of dependence, attempted robbery, assaulting police, criminal damage and failing to obey lawful direction.
Police have been flooding the St Kilda foreshore as part of Operation Sandsafe as a two-day mini-heatwave hit the city.
Southern metro divisional commander Philip Green said police would crack down on anti-social and unruly behaviour, including using foul language, "unnecessarily" running through the crowd and drinking alcohol.
"We're hoping that people who come here respect the right of other people to be here," Superintendent Green said.
"If they do misbehave and they choose to act criminally, police will be there."
On Thursday night, police also conducted 123 searches in St Kilda resulting in two people receiving cautions for possessing a drug of dependence, one person being charged with possessing a knife and another person being arrested as a suspect for an attempted robbery.
Violence along the foreshore often spikes in warmer weather, police say, which has prompted the City of Port Phillip council to ban alcohol on the foreshore until March after a series of alarming attacks in recent weeks.
The ban is expected to come into place around December 15, once the council has had time to change the signs in the area.
It was a hot night in Melbourne on Thursday, only dipping to 26.1 degrees at midnight, and then rising again to 28 degrees during the early hours as a northerly wind came through.
And it was hotter still on Friday afternoon, with the mercury hitting 38 just after 3.30 ahead of a sweltering evening. A cool change is expected to roll in about 10pm.
Police patrolled the St Kilda foreshore and nearby public transport hubs for several hours on Friday afternoon and were expected to remain there into the night.
About 25 kilometres south of St Kilda, police were also called to a violent brawl between two groups on Bath Street in Chelsea just after 6pm on Thursday.
By the time police arrived, most of the group had headed towards the foreshore. Police officers, backed by the Public Order Response Team and canine unit, were forced to respond to reports of unruly behaviour by several groups throughout the evening.
"The youths were all dispersed by 11pm with police arresting one youth for [drunkenness] and issuing two infringement notices for summary offences," a police spokeswoman said.
Police have previously said criminal activity and anti-social behaviour spikes during the warmer weather.