Two African males have been cleared after being arrested over a suspected gang-related double stabbing near a notorious Melbourne public housing complex.
Two other men, aged 21 and 22, were found with serious stab wounds in Collingwood at about 3.15am on Sunday by officers were called to Palmer Street following reports of a fight.
Both were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries to their upper bodies, and police arrested two other males later that morning, but eventually cleared them of any involvement.
The two injured men are not cooperating with police, 9News reported.
Police forensics teams later examined a 300 metre blood trail through nearby streets, with blood also splattered on a white car near the scene of the stabbing.
Last year two teenagers aged 17 and 15 were shot near the same housing commission flats, and witnesses said at the time gunshots rang out after carloads of machete-wielding African gang members fought in the street.
Last month Victoria Police admitted there were at least 34 “youth” gangs active in Melbourne with hundreds of members, following growing public outrage about African gang crime and the failure of the state’s machete ban to stop youth crime.
Police had previously spent years denying gangs existed, calling the concept “racist”, and stopping the publication of nationality data in crime statistics.
Youth detention statistics show that about 50% of the young people in custody are of African descent, despite making up about 0.5% of the youth population.
Header image: Left, right, two males who were arrested and cleared over the double stabbing (9News).
