Melbourne prison riot: Heavily armed police confront masked prisoners at maximum security facility in Ravenhall

Melbourne : Heavily armed police carrying shields have stormed Melbourne’s maximum security prison in a bid to quell rioting prisoners.
Chaotic scenes erupted inside the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Ravenhall as masked inmates brandishing sticks, bashed in doors and windows, and lit fires.
Police at the scene said about 300 prisoners were involved in the demonstration which began at 12:20pm inside the prison.Shots were heard coming from the facility just before 6:00pm but it was unclear whether it was tear gas being used or gunfire.An estimated 200 staff were evacuated from the prison and all of the state’s prisons went into lockdown as a precaution.A drone was sent up to monitor the yard, with a police helicopter and a heavily armoured vehicle also on the scene.
Dozens of police officers were seen marching through the main entrance of the prison with riot gear.
Smoke was billowing from the prison, but has since subsided.Corrections commissioner Jan Shuard said “a very large group” of prisoners had “created a big disturbance” at the facility.She said the riot may have been related to a state-wide smoking ban in Victorian prisons, which is due to begin on Wednesday, but said that had not yet been confirmed.”The situation is still being managed, until we can have a full debrief on it, we won’t know how it got to this stage,” she said.
“Until I get a full debrief, I can’t speculate about how it all came about.”Earlier a group of prisoners breached a secure inner perimeter of the remand centre, but Ms Shuard said most prisoners had been brought under control.”We’ve got a large proportion of the prison locked down now, but we still have too many out and until we have them under control the number [involved] is too hard to be determined.”