Melbourne, May 25 (AP) Following a brutal gang brawl in a suburban shopping mall injuring a young guy, an Australian state government is outlawing the selling of machetes.
Monday the ban on the sale of big knives issued by Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan would take effect Wednesday following machete-wielding gang members’ Sunday afternoon confrontation in a Melbourne mall.
According to a police report, a 20-year-old guy was gravely hurt in the struggle involving eight combatants carrying machetes. Monday had seen the detention and charge of four people.
Allan advised reporters, “I will introduce as many laws (as needed) to get these dangerous knives off the streets.”
“We will be prohibiting the selling of machetes here in Victoria; this prohibition will be in effect from Wednesday midday. Using consumer authorities, Victoria will be outlawing the sale of machetes anywhere in the state,” she said.
Possession of a machete in Victoria may result in fines of more than 47,000 Australian dollars (USD 30,700) and up to two years in jail.
In September last year England and Wales outlawed the carrying of some other knives and machetes.
About forty cops attended to the Melbourne clash between competing gangs.
Arrested at the site, the two claimed main offenders—boysagers 15 and 16—were charged with using a restricted weapon and other offences.
The lads were detained to show up in a children's court at a later date.
Monday saw two guys, ages eighteen and twenty, detained and charged in relation to the violence. They were freed on bail until a July court appearance.
Police claimed all four were known as gang members.
