The behaviour of Christmas revellers who attended a boozy, unauthorised Sydney beach party has been called un-Australian after two police officers were allegedly injured trying to move the partygoers on.
Police were called to Little Bay, south of Maroubra, on Monday afternoon after reports of the large backpacker gathering and arrived to find more than 3000 people drinking, singing and dancing.
As the crowd was moved on, two women, one a UK national and the other from Ireland, were arrested after allegedly hitting police officers with bottles.
They have since been charged with assaulting police.
"My officers were on the receiving end of some alcohol-fuelled violence and it was dealt with swiftly in order to bring the matter under control," Superintendent Karen McCarthy told reporters in Randwick on Tuesday.
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"The people at the party were intoxicated, they were obviously in a festive mood and the majority of people were compliant with police actions, however, there was a small, isolated incident."
Footage of the aftermath of the party shows officers attempting to disperse the gathering.
One video posted on Facebook shows at least four women being pushed to the ground, including two who landed on the road, as officers doused others with pepper spray.
But Supt McCarthy insists the incident was handled appropriately.
"Police deployed appropriate tactics in order to deal with the alcohol-fuelled violence and bring the matter safely under control," she said.
"The people were in contravention of the alcohol-free zone and we simply took swift action to move the people from the area and get them onto safe transport home."
Randwick City Council Mayor Lindsay Shurey praised the police response to the "drunken beach party".
"The police response shut down the party very quickly and helped prevent any serious accidents or major injuries amongst the highly intoxicated revellers," Ms Shurey said in a statement on Tuesday.
"I condemn the behaviour of those backpackers who attacked and assaulted police by throwing bottles - this is un-Australian."
Stephen Minshaw, who was injured, said police were hitting people with batons as they tried to leave.
"I don't get why the police needed to use force," he told the Seven Network.
"We're backpackers, we're not going to ... fight back against them."
He denied the party had gotten out of hand.
Other social media users responded to the footage by labelling the police response as "unnecessarily violent", "ridiculous" and going "way too far".
Five council workers were needed to help clean up the mess scattered across the beach, streets and nearby reserves and filled up about 40 bags of rubbish.
Two women aged 23 and 25 were charged with assaulting a police officer, while the younger was also charged with causing actual bodily harm.
They are expected before Waverley Local Court on January 31.
