Footage has emerged of a Melbourne woman being violently arrested for breaching local lockdown regulations.
A video, that has since gone viral, shows the young woman being approached by two police officers on Wellington St in Collingwood, near the city centre, on Monday afternoon.
She's seen not wearing a mask, which is in breach of Melbourne's stage 4 COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. It is mandatory for people in the city to wear a mask whenever they leave the house unless they have an exemption.
In the video, police can be seen trying to arrest the woman who appears to resist. A male officer then grabs her and pushes her against a wall.
He then appears to put his hand on her throat as a way to restrain her.
"He's choking me! What the f**k! Get off of me! Get off," the woman is heard yelling.
A female officer then tells the woman: "Let go of his vest. Let go of his vest."
The woman attempts to kick the female officer and yells, "F**k you".
As she continues to struggle with the male officer, he tells her to stop resisting.
"What are you doing? You're f**king choking me. You're f**king choking me, dude, what the f**k," she says.
The male officer then pulls her to the ground, rolls her onto her stomach and sits on her back, all while she continues to protest.
"What have I done wrong?" she asks, to which the female officer replies: "You just kicked me in the stomach."
The footage then ends but a longer video was posted to Twitter where the person filming tells off the officer for "choking" the woman.
"There's a man on a girl and you choked her," he says. "For what? For a mask? For not having a mask? Look how pathetic you are. Are you serious? Just for not having a mask?"
Victoria Police confirmed the arrest has been referred for an internal review, News.com.au reports.
A spokesperson said the 21-year-old was arrested for refusing to provide identification, which is in breach of the chief health officer's directions.
"Police made the decision to arrest the woman after she failed to provide her name and address," the spokesperson said.
"She also did not state she had an exemption for not wearing a face covering. She then became physically aggressive and kicked a female officer to the upper body. The woman continued to resist arrest and had to be taken to ground before being arrested."
The woman was taken to a police station to confirm her identity. She was charged with resisting police and assaulting police, and was bailed to appear in court at a later date.
Police can issue on-the-spot fines of $200 to those not wearing a face mask without a legitimate reason. However, the woman didn't receive a fine because she later told police she had an exemption.
