Mask ban flagged to stop protest violence

Residents and businesses in Coburg say they are disappointed a racially fuelled brawl occurred in the multicultural suburb.

One of the few businesses open in the area around Saturday's violent protests was the Glass Den.

Tucked away behind the primary school where protest groups and police were brawling, the Urquhart Street cafe placed a sign on its window to put across its own message in the midst of the chaos.

"It said, 'We are a multicultural cafe that is accepting of people regardless of race or religion,' " the Glass Den manager, Alex O'Brien, said.

Ms O'Brien said she refused to close the business because of what was happening outside.

"I thought, why should we? Why should we close because of a bunch of idiots?" she said.

"The police came down in the morning, we had a chat to them, and we just kept an eye on what was happening around us.

"We had two guys come in [from the protest] and one was a bit bloodied up, I thought it'd be easier to give them a water."

At the height of Saturday's violence, cafe workers decided to lock the doors for about 10 minutes.

"It was so tense; everybody sitting in the courtyard got up, screamed and ran inside," Ms O'Brien said.

"And then everyone was on their phones videoing what was happening outside.

"It was a little bit scary, all we saw was the violence around us.

"But we had a lot of multicultural people in the cafe and they were all laughing at what was happening – so it was actually quite empowering in a way."

Main Street, Coburg, resident Jacqueline Samec said she received a leaflet from Moreland City Council warning residents to avoid Sydney Road between 9am and 3pm on Saturday, days before the protest.

"I thought I would go and visit my sister-in-law. I walked down the street and saw police vans. I could hear noise going on and it looked like something I didn't want to get involved in," she said.

Ms Samec, who has lived in Coburg for three years, went back home and stayed inside until late Saturday afternoon.

She was disappointed the protest happened in such a diverse suburb.

"Everyone has the right to protest, but no one has the right to act violent like they did and that's scary," Ms Samec said.

"Coburg was picked because it's diverse, there are Muslims here, people who have come from Greece and Italy, people from Asia, there are hipsters and there's people like myself.

"Both sides were involved in the violence and that's disappointing."