Lygon Street machete attack leaves two critically injured amid surge of violent incidents across Melbourne on New Year’s Eve

A brutal machete attack shattered Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve celebrations just before midnight, when a group of up to seven armed men ambushed two young males outside a restaurant on the city’s famed Lygon Street, leaving both victims with serious injuries.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald website, the Universal Restaurant on Lygon Street in Carlton was sealed off by police in the early hours of New Year’s Day after reports of a stabbing. Emergency services were alerted when panicked revellers called Triple Zero about 30 minutes before midnight.

Police arrived about 11.45 pm to find the suspects had already fled in vehicles, while the 18-year-old man from New South Wales and a 20-year-old from Heidelberg West were rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in critical condition.


“Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives will investigate whether the incident was a targeted attack.”

Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives were continuing to investigate whether the Lygon Street attack was targeted, as police responded to several other serious incidents across the city during New Year’s Eve.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald website, earlier in the night, fireworks sparked a fire in a garden bed on the roof of 1 Treasury Place in East Melbourne following the 9.30 pm CBD display, with flames visible from nearby buildings.

The building is home to the office of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and several key government departments, and a male was later charged and bailed to appear at a children’s court on a later date.

In separate incidents, three alleged offenders assaulted a 15-year-old boy on Southbank Promenade in the early hours of New Year’s Day, punching him in the face and knocking out a tooth.

Police have urged anyone with information about New Year’s Eve incidents to contact Crime Stoppers.