Police believe the group, aged between 14 and 17, may have organised to meet on Wednesday afternoon via TikTok, despite a national social media ban for Australians under 16 beginning last week.
“Yesterday afternoon was a terrifying event … for the retail workers in that Woolworths store and also the mums and dads and children that were there, potentially doing their Christmas shopping,” Hill said.
“We had 150 marauding youths, a brat pack, if you like, enter that store … damaging items in the store, stealing items in the store. I understand abusing people within that confine.”
When the group began brawling on the beach, police were called in to disperse them.
Hill said that when police arrived, some of the teenagers turned on officers, pelting them with bottles of water, forcing police to use capsicum spray to quell what he described as “riotous behaviour”. Video shows an officer slamming at least one teenager to the ground.
A 15-year-old boy, from the Greater Dandenong area, was arrested but has since been released pending further inquiries.
A police spokeswoman said three other people were spoken to at the scene and released. No injuries were reported.
Hill vowed police would not stop until they had found every teenager involved in the incident.
“Mark my words – each and every child offender that was observed recorded on CCTV, recorded on social media, or our body-worn camera will be spoken to by Victoria Police.”
“It’s better that you proactively contact police, rather than waiting for us to knock on your door in about two or three weeks’ time, if not earlier,” he said.
He said initial investigations suggested the young people were from the local area, including surrounding suburbs such as Bentleigh and Black Rock, and that officers had to quickly deploy riot and water police as well as the air wing.
“Quite frankly, we’ve got better things to do than deploy to 150 youth causing mayhem on the beach,” he said.
Michael Donovan, state secretary of the union for retail workers, said no worker should ever fear for their safety while doing their job.
“What our members experienced at Woolworths Mordialloc yesterday was very distressing and completely unacceptable. The SDA condemns this behaviour in the strongest terms and stands with every worker affected.”
On Thursday, a separate fight broke out at the St Kilda pier.
Police said they were called to the pier at 1pm on Thursday after reports a man had been assaulted by “at least two other males”.
A video on social media shows a man in a pink polo shirt and long pants clutching his mouth and being followed by a swarm of excited teenagers. As the man breaks into a run, the group chase him down, and he is allegedly assaulted.
“It is believed a man was approached by at least two male offenders on Pier Road and an altercation occurred before the man was assaulted and had his phone stolen and thrown into the sea about 1pm,” police said.
“There was a large number of bystanders watching and following the assault and the offenders fled the scene before police arrival.
“The male victim was taken to hospital with minor injuries. No arrests have been made, and investigators are keen to speak to any witnesses.”
Marc, who didn’t want to give his last name, described the St Kilda Pier incident as “a bee swarm” and said it wasn’t long before he heard police sirens in the distance.
Marc said he saw a man being chased down the pier before the altercation began. He estimated that about 150 people were involved.
“They were all on their phones filming and taking photos … it will be on social media soon,” he said.
It is not yet clear what triggered the alleged assault.
Police said extra officers would be patrolling Mordialloc and the surrounding area over coming days.
Despite the social media ban coming into effect last week, teens on social media apps such as TikTok shared videos of the Mordialloc incident, boasting about the number of police called to respond to the chaos.
In comments on the videos, many young people refer to each other as “legends” or claim to have sparked the riot.
Images also show spoiled produce and items strewn along the ground in the supermarket’s aisles, liquid poured on the floor near registers and teens walking around with other items taken from shelves.
Melburnians – most of them teenagers – flocked to Mordialloc Beach on Thursday, the hottest day of this summer so far.
Many of them had seen the videos that were circulating on social media after Wednesday’s events.
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Friends Bella and Allegra, who live close to Mordialloc Beach and visit often, said they had never seen anything like it.
“It’s just really random. And I just don’t really understand,” Allegra said. “I feel fine to be here. Obviously, it happened yesterday, but I don’t really care,” she said.
Parsa, Imogen and Theo – who all recently finished year 11 – travelled more than an hour and a half by bus to visit the beach.
Theo said he had noticed more police patrolling the beach and the surrounding area today.
“[The video] was pretty bad … but everything’s settled down now,” he said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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