WE APPLAUD PEOPLE IN THE ARAB SPRING STANDING UP AND SAYING THIS IS NOT RIGHT, BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS IN YARRAVILLE, PEOPLE SAY THAT WE ARE YUPPIES.
Council representatives have emerged battered and bruised after being attacked by members of the community during a town meeting.
The councilors were meeting to discuss recently-introduced paid parking meters in the gentrified suburb of Yarraville in Melbourne's west. The general public are obviously unhappy with the meters, and when councilors voted against removing the coin-swallowing machines, things got ugly.
Councilor Grant Miles was 'king hit' by a member of the public while still seated in his chair, before another community member approached Cr Nam Quach, lifting the lightweight council member up and body slamming him. Seriously. In a council meeting.
Megan Darling, spokeswoman for Yarraville Village Says No To Paid Parking, was 100% unapologetic for the outburst of violence. Instead of acknowledging the clash was completely unnecessary in a council meeting, she instead pointed the finger at the victims, saying the "council have forced this behaviour." This was followed by one of the great quotes you'll read today, as Darling compared Yarraville residents having to pay spare change for street parking to democratic uprisings in the Arab world. "We applaud people in the Arab Spring standing up and saying this is not right," she said. "But when it happens in Yarraville, people say that we are yuppies."
Speaking to ABC Radio this morning, Darling elaborated on the unusual events.
"There was a lot of screaming, chanting, yelling, heckling - a lot of people who don't like what council decided were yelling it out."
"We're trying to get rid of a bad decision our council made."
"Then we had another one of our ward councillors, councillor Miles, smirk at us. He smiled and someone cracked. So the crowd surged forward. Someone slipped past a couple of the council officers and picked one of the councillors up and dropped him on his head, and then punched another one in the face a couple of times."
She saved the best for last though. When prodded for more information, Darling said "no one is going to talk", reiterating the old 'Stop Snitching' mantra made popular by Cam'ron and The Game.
