Festive drunks swamp St Kilda

AUSTRALIA: Thousands of drunken louts, including many backpackers, wheeled shopping trolleys full of alcohol down to Melbourne’s St Kilda foreshore on Christmas Day, trashing the place, with one man being hit by a tram.

Police said about 5000 people descended on the foreshore in an ‘‘unplanned event’’, and the level of public intoxication prompted the closure of two lanes of traffic.

‘‘People were taking trolley loads of alcohol from the local bottle shops and wheeling them on to the beach,’’ Port Phillip Mayor Bernadene Voss said.

Council officers had to pick up the trash and trolleys and pick up broken glass from the sand by hand so people could enjoy the foreshore on a sunny Boxing Day, Voss said.

The local council has imposed a 10-day alcohol ban on public spaces, starting yesterday. It did not think one was necessary for Christmas Day because families liked to go down to the foreshore for a glass of champagne or a beer, Voss said.

‘‘But we didn’t really expect the extent of the backpackers and the international visitors. There were a lot of British accents,’’ she said.

A 27-year-old man was hit by a tram, a drunk 27-year-old woman had to be taken to hospital, others were injured from stepping on broken glass, two were arrested for being drunk in a public place, and there was a report of an assault, Inspector Jason Kelly of Victoria Police said. Police from across the metropolitan area had to be brought in to control the crowd.

‘‘What really disappoints Victoria Police is the level of intoxication that occurred here,’’ Kelly said.