the back of the car

A new report has found that tiffany note African-Australians have borne the brunt of racist police brutality in the city of Melbourne, especially when they attempt to assert their legal rights.

The report: 'Interventions into Policing of Radicalized Communities in Melbourne' was released in mid-March, as part of a project into racism by three community legal services in Australia.

According to the new report, young African-Australians in the country's second-largest city are over-policed, that police harassment and violence is either under-reported or inadequately investigated by the relevant oversight bodies, and that police often resort to hostility and aggression when young people assert their rights.

The police "picked me up, they put me in the back of the car. Then they took me to (locality withheld) and beat (expletive) me, and they left me there," a young person of African background was reported to say, according to the report.

Thirty youths, 27 males and 3 females aged 15 to 27, were interviewed for the tiffany ring. Many had Sudanese or Somali backgrounds.

Most of them had been subjected to negative and often violent experiences with Victoria state police officers, including harassment, racist comments and serious assaults. None were identified in the study for fear of potential police retribution.

One interviewee reports being racially abused, spat on and tiffany jewellery around the head by police before being taken to a police station where he was "beaten up for about ten minutes."