Scuffles broke out as protesters angered by federal budget cuts clashed with police on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne.
Protesters charged at a police line as they reached the steps of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
There was a short scuffle, with officers holding back the demonstrators before they returned to peacefully protesting federal budget reforms.
After the rally broke up, a group of 20 people staged a sit-in at the intersection of Bourke and Spring Streets outside Parliament House, blocking trams and traffic.
They were ringed by dozens of uniformed and mounted police, who systematically removed the protesters one by one within an hour of the rally's end.
Demonstrators were warned twice to move along before groups of five or six police officers moved in, carrying them away from the intersection.
Among them were a few underage students, some aged 15 and 16 and dressed in private school uniforms.
At least 2000 people rallied outside the State Library in the protest, which was organised by the National Union of Students and the National Tertiary Education Union.
Many then marched along Swanston and Bourke streets to Parliament House, chanting slogans including "no cuts, no fees, no corporate universities" and "no ifs, no buts, no education cuts" as they marched.
A speaker at the rally said the protest would be the first in a series of "rallies, sit-ins and civil disobediences" as they vowed to fight the budget cuts.
Share
