New video has emerged of the tense standoff between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel supporters in Melbourne, hours before wild protests broke out near a fast-food restaurant that was razed the night before.
The footage, believed to have been filmed outside the 7-11 store in Caulfield in the city’s south-east, shows a group of people gathered on the footpath holding up a Jewish Star of David flag.
A pro-Palestine supporter then drives past just meters from the crowd, causing a shouting match that threatens to escalate into a physical altercation with calls of ‘step around the corner’, until police officers stand among the groups.
This is said by a person who claims to have filmed the images SCN that people in the group had ‘barked’ at him when he was stopped at traffic lights, prompting his response.
He added that he “tried to get out of the car but the officer held the door shut” before the light turned green and he drove away.
Protesters gathered for a 7-11 confrontation in Melbourne’s Caulfield on Friday as tensions soar between Israel and Palestine.
The man who filmed the footage said he tried to get out of his car, but police kept the door closed to prevent the situation from becoming physical.
At one point in the video, a Victoria police officer can be seen holding up his index finger to make a “quiet” gesture in a vain attempt to stop the Palestinian supporter from shouting at the pro-Israel protesters.
Hours later, protesters were pepper-sprayed and handcuffed after a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned into violence outside a nearby popular burger joint.
An estimated 400 protesters from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian debate clashed in Princes Park, near the Burgertory restaurant in Caulfield, at 7pm on Friday. Caulfield has a significant Jewish population.
Wild footage showed a huge scuffle between the two groups, each made up of around 200 members, with many throwing punches as police tried to intervene.
One man was pepper-sprayed and removed in handcuffs from the area where peace violations occurred, while another suffered minor injuries after being hit by a rock.
In a social media post before the incident, Burgertory’s CEO Hash Tayeh, 32, had asked people not to protest after his restaurant went up in flames.
Mr Tayeh, who turned his company into Australia’s largest independent burger chain after founding it in 2018, had sparked controversy when he shouted ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ at a rally in Melbourne a fortnight ago. his’ exclaimed.
“There is no point in protesting in the store in Caulfield because some people will deliberately try to trick you into doing the wrong thing or saying the wrong thing and then use that against you,” he said on his Instagram. story on Friday afternoon.
‘We want peace.’
Victorian police are investigating the circumstances behind the fire, which they are treating as ‘suspicious’ but do not believe it was politically motivated.
A pro-Palestinian rally descended into chaos in Melbourne’s Caulfield on Friday evening
During Friday night’s protest, pro-Palestinian supporters and pro-Israel crowds lined either side of Hawthorn Road and shouted abuse at each other.
Supporters of Israel lined one side of the street as both groups insulted each other
During Friday night’s protest, pro-Palestinian supporters and pro-Israel crowds lined either side of Hawthorn Road and insulted each other.
Both sides were draped in Israeli and Palestinian flags, while also shouting from megaphones.
Police officers had banded together to create a human wall and closed the road in an attempt to quell the chaos.
Young male Palestine supporters tried to run through the police line several times during the protest, prompting police to fire pepper spray.
Jewish attendees were evacuated from a nearby synagogue as the pro-Palestinian group stormed into the park across the road.
Members of the Jewish community had previously been warned to stay away from the burned-out Burgertory.
Caulfield’s Burgertory went up in flames at 4am on Friday
At 7:30 p.m., a synagogue was forced to evacuate when protesters stormed into a park across the street
Police officers are seen armed with pepper spray
Supporters of Israel sang as supporters of Palestine took time to pray in the middle of the protest
Hawthorn Road was closed during the protest, bringing both traffic and trams to a standstill
Victoria Police said 200 members from both sides turned out for the protest on Friday evening.
A police spokesman said the incidents in which one man was pepper-sprayed and the other was hit by a rock would be investigated.
“Our top priority was to maintain the peace to ensure the event did not impact the safety of the wider community,” they said.
“We will continue to maintain communication with all communities that have a strong interest in events in the Middle East.”
Earlier on Friday, tensions flared outside the restaurant when a group believed to be pro-Palestine began arguing with others.
Protesters can be seen in Caulfield on Friday evening
Hawthorn Road was closed for hours as the protest descended into chaos
Demonstrators were divided by police on both sides of the street
Police tried to keep the peace but were met with resistance from young men who tried to storm the line
Victoria police arrested several people after the scuffle on Friday afternoon to ‘keep the peace’.
“It is believed a verbal altercation occurred between approximately 15 people on Glen Huntly Road just after 2.30pm,” a spokesperson said.
‘A number of people were briefly detained in an attempt to keep the peace. One woman was briefly arrested because she could not identify herself.
“No one was injured during the incident.”
Ten firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze at the Burgertory restaurant after it caught fire shortly after 4am on Friday.
There was no one in the restaurant at the time.
Mr Tayeh called the fire an “arson attack” and said it would “not shake my call for peace or silence me.”
“We are working closely with the authorities to investigate this alarming incident, and we are committed to assisting in any way we can,” he said.
“As an Australian of Palestinian descent and CEO of Burgertory, and as someone who cherishes life in our multicultural Australian society, I am deeply disturbed by the spread of rumors that we harbor anti-Semitic sentiments.
“I can’t emphasize enough that this couldn’t be further from the truth. My participation in pro-Palestinian rallies was driven by a desire for peace and ceasefire, not violence or division. I have lost 38 family members in Palestine and I want the violence to stop.”
Tayeh, 32, was filmed at a pro-Palestine protest in Melbourne on October 29, holding a loudspeaker and leading chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Some interpret the rallying cry as anti-Semitic because it essentially calls for the abolition of Israel by expanding the Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
He strongly rejected accusations that he held anti-Semitic views and claimed he was a “voice for peace.”