Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The centre of Melbourne became the stage for an extraordinary riot last Saturday between rival gangs

Families found themselves locked in cafes as more than 100 young people roamed the streets, brawling and taunting police.

Suddenly, a gang, Apex, that had mostly flown below the radar grabbed the public's attention.

Tonight, a member of Apex who was at the mayhem speaks exclusively to 7.30 about the violence and why tough talk from the Victorian Premier and the police has made them angry.

Madeleine Morris reports, and a warning: this story contains offensive language.

JAKE NOWAKOWSKI, HERALD SUN PHOTOGRAPHER: There were a lot of kids. There were a lot of teenagers in this area here. Just teenagers from, you know, varying ethnicity everywhere, but there was no bad vibe, there was no tension. So that's why the kickoff was surprising. All of a sudden, kids were running in every direction. And there were five police officers with batons drawn.

MADELEINE MORRIS, REPORTER: Jake Nowakowski was the only press photographer there when Saturday night's extraordinary riot started.

JAKE NOWAKOWSKI: They began to taunt the police, the police with the batons and saying, "Hit me, hit me". And the police formed a little circle here and at that point the kids came in very close and started chanting, "F the police". And then the crowd reacted and that's where it got out of control. And at one point they started picking up chairs from Brunetti's here and hurling the chairs at each other. So that's when it got very hairy. There were times where they were chanting, "Apex, Apex, Apex". This was completely different to any other riot that I've seen because other riots that I've covered have always had a purpose. But this was just - it just seemed completely random, yeah.

'JAMES', APEX MEMBER: Some people just - might just want a reputation or maybe someone said something wrong to someone and the fight just happened. Or maybe it's rivalry.

MADELEINE MORRIS: 'James' is an Apex member. He agreed to speak to us only if we disguised his identity. He says he was there on Saturday night, but didn't fight and the incident has been blown out of proportion.

'JAMES': I wouldn't say it's a really big thing, you know. The media always speculates and tries to make things sound big, bigger than they are.

MADELEINE MORRIS: It would have been pretty scary for the people who were there.

'JAMES': Yeah, I understand that, yeah.

MADELEINE MORRIS: This incongruously quiet street in Dandenong is where Apex began. It's where the group's original founders lived. At the beginning, police say, it was mostly young South Sudanese Australians involved in petty crime. But more recently, the group has merged with another gang, YCW, made up of Islanders, Maoris and white Australians.

ROBERT HILL, ASST COMMISSIONER, VICTORIAN POLICE: The, I suppose, profile of the gang member, it's a young person aged between 12, 13 years of aged to an 18, 19-year-old person. This is not a structured, if you like, organised crime gang. Apex are a group of youth that are connected effectively by social media.

'JAMES': I wouldn't call it a gang, just a group of youths.

MADELEINE MORRIS: And why do they hang out together?

'JAMES': Everyone's got to have friends, you know. It means brotherhood. Everyone looks after each other and everyone respects each other.

MADELEINE MORRIS: The police say recently the group's crimes have become more serious and widespread and 35 members have been charged with a range of offences over the last couple of months.

ROBERT HILL: Now we're seeing these young people breaking into homes, confronting owners of motor cars, luxury motor cars that might be parked in the driveway, demanding keys to those luxury vehicles and then stealing the cars from the driveways. Certainly we know that there's some links with outlaw motorcycle gangs. We certainly know that there's other organised crime groups that are involved in the export of these vehicles.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So police say that it's gradually becoming more and more serious and its members are getting involved in more and more serious crimes - carjacking, stealing things to order. What do you know about that?

'JAMES': No, I don't know anything about that.

MADELEINE MORRIS: You must know people who are involved in that stuff, James.

'JAMES': No, I don't know anything about that. If I did, I'd tell you, straight up. There might be other people, you know, claiming to be Apex, committing those acts under Apex.

MADELEINE MORRIS: James left war-torn South Sudan for Australia with his family when he was eight. Despite being a good student, he didn't finish high school and moved out of home at 16. He joined Apex when he was 14 and has been in trouble with the law a few times, but he wouldn't tell us what he'd been charged with. He says growing up in Dandenong was hard.

'JAMES': Lack of school, no jobs, lack of employment.

MADELEINE MORRIS: So is the appeal of something like Apex that it gives people a community?

'JAMES': Yes. They young kids, good kids, you know, but they just had a couple - a couple of hiccups, but people got to give them a chance still, yeah?

MADELEINE MORRIS: But stories of disadvantage are getting no sympathy from the authorities.

DANIEL ANDREWS, VICTORIAN PREMIER (March 14): It doesn't matter who you are, your circumstances, your background, if you break the law, you will feel the full force of the law. And I again say to you: I'm not interested, and neither are Victorians, in these "Poor me" stories.

'JAMES': I think that's ridiculous. I think that's wrong to say that. People find that offensive 'cause it's coming from a person that's in a very high position as well.

MADELEINE MORRIS: But South Sudanese leaders say it's not only disadvantage that's a problem. They also believe their family structures are being often ripped apart with unfair targeting by child protection agencies.

KOT MONOAH, CHAIR, SOUTH SUDANESE COMMUNITY IN VIC.: Well the child protection agencies, when they engage with families of South Sudanese origin, tend to remove these kids and put them in care, and when they are put in care, these kids obviously become out of touch with the community, community values and expectations from their own parents and families.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Police say they'll be making more arrests over Saturday night's brawl. 'James' believes the focus on Apex since Saturday night has been unfair.

'JAMES': There was two groups involved in this alleged incident in the city, but they're only targeting one group, the Apex group. Why do you think it is? It's obvious.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Tell me why.

'JAMES': Basically racism.

MADELEINE MORRIS: Meanwhile, 'James' is working on his music while he's trying to stay out of trouble and hoping to find a job.

LEIGH SALES: Madeleine Morris reporting. Andy Burns was the producer.