Police used capsicum spray to keep apart about 100 rioting youths at Federation Square during Moomba as young troublemakers again moved to turn one of the city's festivals into a "playground" for fighting.
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Assistant Commissioner Andrew Crisp said police frisked more than 800 people for weapons over the first two nights of Moomba as they attempted to prevent a repeat of last year's Moomba riots, the late night violence of White Night and marauders at a smaller Caroline Springs festival.
Mr Crisp warned police would be out in force and ready for any trouble on Sunday night.
He said the rioters were mostly male youths, aged from their mid-teens to early 20s. Some girls had also come to fight, he said.
"We did see behaviour later in the night, and in the early hours of the morning, in terms of these young people who believe that they can use the CBD and festivals as their playground," Mr Crisp said.
"Well, this sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we are ready to deal with that type of behaviour," he said.
"These were groups of mainly young men who wanted to get together and wanted to try and fight."
Police arrested 53 people on Friday and Saturday night - about 15 more than a regular weekend. An estimated 200,000 people made up the Moomba crowd on Saturday night.
They used new weapons search powers to arrest rioters who were breaching bail conditions and a further three were banned from the city for 48 hours. Weapons seized included knives, a Taser, and a knuckle duster.
"That was what was really successful in terms of our weapons search operation. We did identify a number of people that were breaching bail and we were able to deal with those," he said.
On the first two days of Moomba, police have arrested 14 people for being drunk, nine on weapons-related offences, five for riotous behaviour, one for hindering police, four for assaulting police, two for criminal damage and one for robbery.
An estimated 200,000 people made up the Moomba crowd on Saturday night.
Mr Crisp said there were "no major fights" in the city on Saturday night and denied police had closed Federation Square to control the rioters. He said capsicum spray had to be used.
"We have been successful at keeping those groups apart but have deployed OC spray as a result of that incident," he said.
Mr Crisp denied reports that rioters had attempted to breach the police station in Flinders Lane, but said they had gone to the station looking for trouble.
He said police had also used pepper spray during the operation at the police station.
Two police officers were injured on Saturday night, one had a grazed face and leg after falling while pursing an offender and another injured his knee.
Mr Crisp said the rioters came from Melbourne's northern, eastern and western suburbs but were not from any particular ethnic group.
He said Saturday night's rioters were of Caucasian, African, Pacific Island and Asian appearance. All of them had an "intent for them to get together and to fight and to cause harm to the community".
"We talk about the United Nations of offending," Mr Crisp said.
"Gang is a very interesting term. It is almost that line of 'gang today, gone tomorrow'. There is no real colours or clubhouse; it is very fluid. Some would identify as westside or eastside.
"They do want to identify as part of a group," he said.
Mr Crisp said the festival had a divide between the early revellers and the late-night rioters.
"It is almost the tale of two cities. There is very much the Moomba festival 'peace' and then there is the activities that occur later in the evening," he said.
Some of the behaviour was "consistent with White Night" and was not a typical Saturday night.
Mr Crisp said he was mindful that the festival was only halfway through and police needed to get through Sunday night.
"Rest assured for those Victorians, those Melburnians that want to come in to the festival, please do so. Come in, have a great time. Victoria Police, we are more than ready, we are certainly willing and will be able to deal with anything that might happen over the next few days," he said.
"We are very confident that anything that might arise from tonight will be well managed."
Police Minister Lisa Neville said last year's Moomba felt "very out of control" but new laws that allowed police to search for weapons had helped to control the rioters.
She said police made arrests and disrupted "the effort of some young people who were determined to disrupt Moomba and, in this case, the efforts of police stopped them in their tracks".
She said police would be out in force all day on Sunday and Monday to ensure Melburnians could enjoy the festival.
Ms Neville said the youths involved in the rioting behaviour were attempting to give themselves a tough reputation.
Mr Crisp commended community leaders who helped police identify rioters. Community groups helping out included the Maori Wardens, the Salvation Army and the South Sudanese Community in Victoria
Opposition attorney-general John Pesutto said the problem was complex, requiring more police, stronger sentencing and bail laws and more engagement with communities across Melbourne.
"Although police were out in bigger numbers, it's still clear that there are packs of lawless individuals who want to disrupt this festival and cause maximum mayhem," he said.
"It's clear that although Daniel Andrews wants to talk a tough game when it comes to smashing these gangs, what's very clear from last night's activities is that many of these individuals simply don't believe the Premier or they don't take him as credible on this issue."
