Mary Ripard was making room for a child behind her to watch the parade – which ironically this year celebrated multicultural inclusiveness - when she said a man standing next to her became agitated.

She said the man grabbed and twisted her arm, threatening to break her arm and calling her a ‘wog’, a derogatory term for people of Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Maltese descent.

Ms Ripard, originally from Malta, but an Australian citizen and who has been living in Australia for almost 50 years, said she had never been spoken to in such an offensive manner. And she had never before been physically hurt.

“That (derogatory term) is still nasty, not nice, it’s offensive,” Ms Ripard said. “I just move a bit for the child. I’ve never had anything like that happen to me before...all night and watching TV thinking, why would he do that.”

She said the man would only release his grip on her arm, once she gave him a kick in the knee. She was particularly concerned about the whole incident because there were so many children nearby.

Ms Ripard was watching the parade with her grandchildren. Her daughter and grandchild were involved in the procession.

A friend standing across Wendouree Parade from Ms Ripard took photos as the incident unfolded, but was unable to cross and intervene because the Begonia Parade had started.

The photos featured on social media on Monday night and drew strong support, but the post was later taken down because it featured in a buy-sell forum.

“I kept looking at the rest of the parade, but the whole time I kept looking back because I didn’t know if he was going to do something again,” Ms Ripard said.

The parade featured strong crowds lining the route from the south gardens to the north gardens by the lake.

Ms Ripard was considering taking the matter to police after meeting with The Courier.