Victoria Police unlawfully arrested Rebel News Australia chief correspondent Avi Yemini twice on Thursday afternoon while he was reporting on an anti-Pauline Hanson student walkout outside the State Library in Melbourne's CBD.

Footage of both arrests shows officers seemingly unsure of their legal grounds for detaining him, with conflicting explanations given for their actions. On both occasions, police handcuffed Avi, drove him away from the scene and then released him without processing or charging him.

The repeated detentions disrupted legitimate journalistic work and raise serious questions about Victoria Police's treatment of journalists reporting on public events.

Before police intervened, the Rebel News team had been livestreaming from the walkout for close to an hour. Avi had been conducting street interviews with people in the crowd and members of the public, with the livestream audience watching as events unfolded.

At one point, a female officer approached Avi on the outskirts of the protest and asked him to move to a nearby intersection, saying it was "for our safety, for your safety and for everyone else's safety".

Avi told her there were no safety concerns. The team had a four-person security detail watching over them, and there had been no trouble.

He returned to his interview with a keen participant. Moments later, the officer approached again.

"I'm asking you to move," she said.

When Avi asked why, she replied: "Because I'm concerned about a breach of the peace."

"I'm doing my job here," Avi responded.

Victoria Police officers then moved in, aggressively grabbing Avi, handcuffing him and forcing him into a police van. Even as they restrained him, officers appeared to be struggling to establish exactly what they were detaining him for.

 

 

I was filming the incident and challenged the officers over the grounds for their actions, asking why Victoria Police was rounding up journalists and interfering with their ability to report in Melbourne.

Avi was driven away in a police vehicle and dropped several blocks from the scene, separated from his team and security detail. He was released without being processed or charged with any offence. Less than half an hour after first being handcuffed, he was back on the livestream.

"Now we're going to sue Victoria Police again," he said. "This time, we're not going to accept an apology."

He was referring to the written apology Victoria Police issued in 2022 following his legal action over a series of unlawful arrests under similar circumstances.

The team subsequently headed back towards the State Library and the vehicle transporting our crew. But police were not finished.

Officers, including some who had been involved in the first detention, stopped Avi and threatened to arrest him again.

"If you go past here you'll be arrested. For hindering," one officer warned.

Avi challenged the officers, pointing out that they had provided no proper grounds for the first arrest and were once again preventing him from doing his job without justification.

The officers weren't interested in hearing him out. They handcuffed Avi for a second time that afternoon.

"This is so-called free Melbourne, Australia 2026, where the communist state thinks that they can arrest journalists," he said as police held him.

Once again, officers drove him away in handcuffs, only to release him without processing or charging him.

Watching the events unfold from the sidelines was extraordinary. Police were repeatedly grabbing a journalist off the street, transporting him to another location and separating him from his colleagues, all while offering little clarity about their authority to do so.

It felt like something out of a dystopian police state, or an authoritarian country where authorities can simply remove journalists they don't want covering events. During the livestream, we described it as Avi being "kidnapped twice by Victoria Police" simply for doing his job.

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This is not an isolated incident. It is the second time in five weeks that Victoria Police officers have physically restrained Avi while he was reporting in Melbourne's CBD.

On October 7, outside the same State Library, Rebel News footage showed an officer grabbing Avi by the neck. Rebel News reported that the officer "went for his throat, then threatened him on camera". The officer could also be heard saying: "I live in North Caulfield, I'll f--king see you..."

News reports subsequently revealed that Victoria Police's Conduct and Professional Standards Division had confirmed a formal investigation on October 14. No outcome has been announced.

Victoria Police has faced legal consequences for its treatment of Avi before.

In 2022, following legal action in the Supreme Court, the force issued a written apology covering three incidents in 2020 and 2021. It acknowledged that "on each occasion, Mr. Yemini was wrongly arrested and detained by members of Victoria Police while reporting for Rebel News".

On one of those occasions, Avi was "detained and driven to Caulfield".

There had been no such interference at an earlier anti-Hanson walkout in August. Before that event, Rebel's lawyers contacted police, and Avi reported that officers did not interfere with the team's coverage.

On Thursday, however, police removed him from the street twice.

Rebel's full livestream from Thursday's walkout is available here.

Victoria Police has not explained what legal power officers relied on to handcuff Avi, whether he was formally placed under arrest on either occasion, or why he was released without being processed. 

Avi was handcuffed twice while doing his job. Five weeks earlier, an officer was filmed grabbing him by the neck. After previously securing a written apology from Victoria Police over similar conduct, Avi says he won't settle for another one.

Avi is not letting it go. With your support at ProtectAvi.com, he is taking the fight directly to Victoria Police through the legal system, to make sure his right to work is not trampled by police again and again, and that press freedom in Victoria is protected for every journalist who comes after him.

Stand with Avi and help fund his legal fight against Victoria Police at PROTECTAVI.COM.