A 21-year-old man has been charged with assaulting a security guard after violence broke out at a concert by rapper Akon in Melbourne last night.
Police were called to Melbourne Park about 9:00pm AEDT after a group of up to 50 people overwhelmed security guards to gain entry to the concert.
Eighteen people, including two security guards, were injured in several fights inside and outside the venue. Eight of them needed hospital treatment.
Music reviewer Rose Callaghan says groups of young men were picking fights throughout the evening.
"It just seemed to be a bad combination of a lot of young guys in groups and the security ... they didn't seem to be stepping in until later on in the concert and that seemed to just fuel things," she said.
"There was a big fight with the security guards and the punters later on."
One of the concertgoers said there were two groups clashing.
"The crowd was pretty rowdy and there was a lot of kids and basically I think it was two groups in particular, and once it started it was [a] gang mentality kind of thing," he said.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley says paramedics treated four men who had been assaulted. Others were treated by first aid staff at the venue.
"They were all men aged between 22 and 54. They were all suffering cuts and bruising; some of them had to be given some pain relief," Mr Bentley said.
"They were all taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition."
Police are also questioning other concertgoers who claim they were assaulted inside the venue.
Footage posted on YouTube shows Akon jumping into the crowd to stop fans from fighting.
He can be heard urging the crowd to "calm down".
Akon is due to play in Sydney tonight.
