IT WON’T HAPPEN HERE
Beattie says Coast Games safe from cowardly attacks
COWARDLY attacks on pedestrians will not occur at next year’s Commonwealth Games because organisers have prepared for every contingency, organising chair Peter Beattie said last night. Mr Beattie said Games organisers were ready to thwart car attacks in the wake of similar atrocities across the globe in recent years. “We want to send a message to the world that the Gold Coast is safe,’’ Mr Beattie said. Two men are in custody after their SUV struck at least 13 people when it ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians in Melbourne’s CBD yesterday. Police said it was a deliberate act.
A SPEEDING SUV mowed down Christmas shoppers in a horrific attack in the middle of Melbourne’s CBD yesterday – the second vehicle-borne act of carnage in the city this year.
Police arrested two bearded men of Middle Eastern appearance who were pulled from the vehicle and described the attack which left 14 injured as a deliberate act. But early last night they stopped short of labelling it a terror attack, saying the motivation of the men was unknown. The Australian last night reported one of the men was a mentally ill drug addict.
The incident happened outside the famous Flinders St railway station after the white Suzuki Vitara slammed into victims at the intersection of Elizabeth St just after 4.30pm.
The area was crawling with Christmas shoppers, commuters and people on their way to Christmas parties, and bodies were flung everywhere as the vehicle smashed into the crowd. Among the victims was a preschool aged child with a serious head injury.
Witness Lachlan Read, 20, said it was 15 seconds of chaos.
“He has gone straight through the red light at pace and it was bang, bang, bang. It was just one after the other,” he said. “The last bang the car stopped. There were bodies on the ground and people running up to them – it was mayhem.”
Another man said the Suzuki was travelling west along Flinders St at up to 100km/h.
“The intersection was full of pedestrians and he just ploughed through,” he told the ABC. “The only thing that slowed him down was him hitting pedestrians. “
Bystanders described how the car came to a stop when it hit a bollard and civilians tried to make a citizen’s arrest before police quickly arrived and dragged the occupants from the car at gunpoint. They were handcuffed with cable ties and held on the side of the road.
One of the men, wearing a white shirt, was seemingly unconscious.
“The police arrived and dragged him from the car. There was a cop with a big gun, an M16 pointed at him,” Lachlan who captured the arrest on video, said. “They dragged him through the passenger side door ... in one of the videos you can see the police trying to wake him up. I checked out a few of the people, there were people putting things on their head to stop the bleeding.”
Police, paramedics and members of the public rushed to help injured.
“We believe based on what we have seen that it is a deliberate act,” Commander Russell Barrett said. “The motivations are unknown. It is still early days.”
The incident happened just a few blocks away and 11 months after a similar shocking act.
In the Bourke St tragedy in January which killed six people, a car was also used as a weapon by a deranged driver.
As happened then, yesterday passers-by were quick to comfort the stricken. Some shaded victims from the sun as others tried to keep them calm during the wait for paramedics to arrive. Vince was working in a shop at Flinders St station and rushed to the scene before emergency services arrived.
“There was no screaming, just people lying there,” he said, adding that onlookers were quick to lend a hand. “They were just holding them and comforting them.”
The Prime Minister’s office was last night briefed on the incident. The Bulletin understands the alleged attack was not elevated to the National Security Committee as of last night.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews described it as a horrible incident and tweeted an appeal for calm. “Please avoid the area. Trains running but trams affected. Stay safe. Check on your loved ones. And thank you to our brave emergency services,” he said.
A major investigation from specialist arms of the Victoria Police was under way last night.
Those who know the two men who were arrested were expected to be contacted and interviewed as investigators look into any potential motive for the alleged rampage.
One report last night said they were brothers.
THE ONLY THING THAT SLOWED HIM DOWN WAS HIM HITTING PEDESTRIANS A WITNESS