Victims of violent street crime in Melbourne — and the loved ones left behind — are demanding an urgent government crackdown on violent crime.

Dozens of protesters rallied for tougher criminal punishment and stricter bail laws as the accused killer of good Samaritan Van Viet Truong appeared in a children’s court on Friday.

The 15-year-old boy is charged with manslaughter, and his co-accused are free on bail.

The protest group, primarily made up of parents, said Melbourne street crime is spiralling out of control and expressed fear that their children could be killed next.

“Our children should not have to calculate whether another group of young people may be carrying a knife or scissors, like the incident in the city this week,” said Phuong Dung.

“A teenager shouldn’t have to wonder whether their shoes, phone, or jacket could make them a target. A child walking home from school shouldn’t have to constantly look behind them, and parents shouldn’t have to live in fear every time their teenager says they are going out.”

The rally centred around the horrific killings of 60-year-old Mr Truong in Sunshine and 14-year-old Ethan Hoac in St Albans in 2023. Ethan was stabbed to death with machetes by teenagers in an unprovoked attack.

“Ethan was 14, Mr Truong was 60. One was a child with his entire future ahead of him; the other was a hardworking man who spent decades building his life and family,” Ms. Dung said.

“Two generations, two families. How many more families must experience this pain? What kind of future are we creating if fear becomes normal for our children?

“We want justice for victims. We want stronger laws. We are calling for the government to protect us. We deserve to be protected.”

Ethan’s mother, who is part of the action group, told how she was committed to a psychiatric facility after losing her son in such a savage way.

“I don’t know how to get justice for my son. It was so senseless. Ethan honestly did not know those boys and there was no provocation,” she said in a video played at the protest.

Ms Dung said many victims have stopped reporting youth crime to police out of fear that offenders will simply be bailed and target them again.

“All we ask is for you to teach them a lesson. They deserve adult time if they commit adult crimes, regardless of their age,” she said.

Calls for ‘adult time for adult crime’ follow frustration earlier this week when a teenager who committed an armed carjacking walked free from court without spending a single day behind bars.

The rally also comes after a mother was stabbed with scissors in the CBD this week while defending her 10-year-old son.

Cherie Holt was stabbed multiple times and suffered a broken leg while defending her son, who was randomly punched in the head while in the city for treatment for a rare and inoperable form of brain cancer.

“There needs to be a much bigger conversation about the level of violence we are seeing and the fact that people are becoming accustomed to hearing about incidents like this,” Ms Holt wrote on social media on Friday.

“I want our government to recognise that families should not have to accept serious violence as an increasingly normal part of life. Something needs to change.”

Mr Truong’s alleged killer will face court next month where prosecutors will seek to obtain DNA to compare with the victim’s, and photos of hand injuries suffered by the young alleged offenders during the affray.