Victoria’s Police Minister says this week’s IMARC protests are illegitimate and issued a warning to anyone planning to target the Melbourne Cup.

In an interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, Lisa Neville defended the actions of officers and urged protesters to “respect police”.

“They’re just doing their jobs, they don’t want to be there,” she said.

“I don’t even know what the protest is about anymore,” Ms Neville said, comparing these protests with recent arrest-free climate protests that attracted 100,000 people.

“It just seems like (IMARC) protesters want to disrupt parts of our community.”

And she had a warning for anyone intending to take the disruption to Flemington for the Melbourne Cup.

“If they’re going to go down there and try to disrupt the Melbourne Cup, they will see similar arrests that police are making now,” Ms Neville said.

The Labor frontbencher said police will be monitoring the train network — a key avenue into the heart of the Flemington Racecourse area — to identify protesters on their way to the track.

“One of the issues about this group of people is that they’re very disparate,” she said.

“They don’t talk to police so it’s about using a range of intelligence to understand what their intentions are.”

Click PLAY for the full interview with Police Minister Lisa Neville 

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