Shocking viral footage has captured a violent Sydney CBD rampage in broad daylight that led to the arrest of two teenage girls over the weekend.
The brazen attack unfolded in the centre of the city on Sunday morning, leaving public transport workers and international tourists caught in the crossfire.
NSW Police were told two girls, aged 16 and 17, alongside a 19-year-old man, allegedly assaulted a bus driver and a male passenger — both aged 35.
The trio were swiftly removed from the bus near the busy intersection of George and Haymarket streets, but the ordeal quickly escalated on the pavement.
A confronting clip, submitted anonymously to the social media page Crazy News Sydney, shows one of the teenage girls aggressively kicking the door of a city bus.
In the shocking footage, the girl can then be seen charging at and grabbing two American tourists, aged 27 and 28, who were believed to be filming the unfolding drama.
According to the post on social media, one of the tourists claims she suffered a concussion and her hair was ripped out during the incident, which occurred on the very first day her Australia trip.
The tourist told Crazy News Sydney that she will still be travelling around the country for the next month, and hopes the rest of her trip will be a much better experience.
Police say the bus driver, the passenger, and the tourists were all assessed at the scene, and no one required medical treatment.
The two girls were arrested at the scene and taken to the local police station, while the 19-year-old man was issued a move-on directive, which he complied with.
Following inquiries, the younger girl was charged with common assault (three counts), and the older girl was charged with one count of common assault.
Both girls were refused bail and are appearing before a Children’s Court today.
Police say investigations into the incident are continuing.
Community in crisis
The video of the brawl has since racked up more than a million views, sparking hundreds of comments from Aussies alarmed by the recent wave of street violence.
“Some teenagers are becoming too reckless. There should be more prevention and better guidance to avoid these kinds of behaviours,” one person wrote.
“How disgusting! This is an embarrassment to our city,” another shared.
Dozens of others branded the incident as “horrific” and “disgraceful”.
“I’m sorry for the bus driver and that tourists witnessed this horrible behaviour,” a third added.
“I’m just amazed that no one intervenes,” someone else wrote.
Is youth crime on the rise?
The weekend brawl comes after a series of similar incidents last month, where footage captured a wild teen brawl on the eve of the Anzac Day public holiday.
The videos showed a group of young women fighting on the footpath near the busy intersection in Sydney’s CBD.
In one clip, four teenage girls appeared to be kicking and punching someone lying in a garden bed.
In another clip, multiple girls are seen following one girl who is backing away before being hit and thrown to the ground on the tram tracks.
But despite the flood of recent attacks circulating on social media, official data shows youth crime rates are actually decreasing.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures revealed that in 2023–24, there were 1,764 offenders per 100,000 people aged 10 to 17 — a 28 per cent decrease over the past ten years.
Assault rates among youth are also down 23 per cent from their 2009 – 2010 peak.
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