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Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright says the internet is being monitored to see if any protests are being organised online.
Police are liaising with Islamic leaders to head off potential protests in Melbourne after the weekend protests in Sydney over a controversial film about the Prophet Mohammed, turned violent.
"As you'd expect we're monitoring the social media, we are monitoring the interactions of the local community, we're speaking with our own community members," he said.
"Not surprisingly once we saw what was happening in Sydney we had been in contact with our local community leaders and we've made inquiries.
"We're quite confident what we've seen there, we won't see in Victoria.
The Deputy Commissioner also issued a stern warning.
"Any sort of violent behaviour of this nature, any sort of violent protests, we can deal with," he said.
"We've demonstrated recently we can get numbers to the ball quite quickly, so make no mistake about it.
"If people do intend to take this sort of action, we'll be acting quickly and firmly."
He says police do have contingency plans in place.
Make no mistake about it, if people do intend to take this sort of action, we'll be acting quickly and firmly.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright
"We'll be acting early to make sure it doesn't get out of hand," he said.
"We have police around the clock available if we need them.
He says police in Victoria have had no notification of any planned protests, but will continue to monitor social media.
"Areas that are of particular risk, the American consulate for example, we'll be seeing an increase in police presence," he said.
"But that would be a normal response to any sort of behaviour like this, we need to balance our own reactions our own intelligence and take reasonable safeguards, which we're doing."
"We'll continue to monitor the situation over the coming days, but again, we don't get the sense that this sort of behaviour will be occurring in Victoria.
Deputy Commissioner Cartwright also condemned the use of children holding placards inciting violence.
"That is abhorrent," he said.
"If you have children involved in protests, and you have violence, then it makes it very challenging for our officers to ensure the safety of the kids.
"In any violence they become collateral damage, they get involved no matter what we do."
Mr Cartwright said police were in regular discussions with Islamic leaders across Melbourne and was confident that they would notify authorities if they sensed any trouble.
"I also note Islamic community leaders, our own community leaders, the Prime Minister right across, have all condemned the actions in Sydney.
"These aren't mainstream Muslim people, these aren't people acting within the normal boundaries of faith communities.
He said Victoria had a long history of community involvement with policing and was a world leader on multicultural issues.
Mr Cartwright says police are also watching closely events overseas.
"We have to put this in an international context," he said.
"There have been very violent protests and deaths overseas which are dreadful to see.
"We express our concerns and sympathies for people who have lost loved ones.
"So we'll also watch what's happening overseas."
The Islamic Council of Victoria has held an emergency meeting to tell local Muslim community leaders to discourage violence.
The Council's Sheik Mohamadu Saleem says there is little chance of similar protests over the film being held in Melbourne.
But he says prayer meetings will be used to spread a message of peace.
"Islam is against violence as Australians and the Muslims in Australia are against violence," he said.
Topics: police, community-and-multicultural-festivals, community-and-society, multiculturalism, religion-and-beliefs, islam, unrest-conflict-and-war, melbourne-3000
First posted
Sarah Farnsworth 17 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-17/police-ready-to-act2c-but-say-no-protests-planned/4266146
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