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MELBOURNE - Disgusted ambulance officers say the G20 protests in Melbourne at the weekend were the most violent the city has ever seen.
The city was quiet yesterday after Saturday's protests in which several police and some demonstrators were injured.
Paul Holman, operations manager for the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, said the protests were by far the worst he had seen in 30 years. "It was abhorrent. Just disgusting. It is not behaviour our society is used to," Holman said.
He said three police officers, two suffering bites, were taken to hospital, while another suffered a broken wrist.
On Saturday, two to three thousand demonstrators overturned barriers and smashed vehicles in street battles around the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the venue for the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union.
Police adopted new measures to deal with protests, following recommendations in a report on their tactics outside the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in 2000, which was also marred by violence.
- AAP
