Apex gang rioters in Melbourne CBD, outside Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, Swanston Street. Credit:twitter.com/@russmulry Dr Ahmed put forward a proposal to police and Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott for a program to educate young refugees about respecting the law, but was told it would not be funded. The Eritrean-born former refugee, who sits on Victoria Police's human rights committee and is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne, said bureaucrats were not engaging with the African community. Services needed to do more to help refugees, he said. "They used to come into a hostel...they were taught to understand the system...But now it's straight from the airport to the city."

Rioters outside Federation Square on Saturday night. He said South Sudanese refugees had spent most of their lives in war and were not accustomed to law and order. High unemployment, poor English language skills and disconnection from education aggravated these issues. Salvation Army major Brendan Nottle shared Dr Ahmed's concerns, and said he was labelled a racist when he previously raised concerns about the "disconnection" of some African and Islander teenagers in Melbourne. "We have been talking to police, but no one has appeared to speak out," he said. "There appears to be a very deep sense of anger particularly with African youth and also Islander youth because of a deep sense of disconnection. They don't want to be here. They have often spent time in difficult refugee camps.

"I'm not sure what we are doing to address the deeper issues. We need to get on to this now – we should have got onto it a couple of years ago, but it's one of those sensitive issues." Major Nottle said about four or five years ago there were regular problems with gang-related violence and robberies in the city. The issue seemed to calm down but had recently flared up again. In "frightening" incidents on New Year's Eve this year, he said large numbers of "African youth" clashed on Swanston and Russell streets in the early hours of the morning. Melbourne City Mission's Sherri Bruinhout said the gangs gave the young people a sense of belonging and success they were not finding in their communities, schools or in employment. "All of a sudden you can be somebody, you can be important and successful," she said. She said young, new arrivals to Australia were landing in crisis accommodation in very high numbers – making up 70 per cent of demand according to recent data.

"That to me is not a homelessness issue, that's a settlement issue. Families come here from the most extraordinary situations of torture and trauma and then are thrown into a country without adequate support to get on with life. "They're sort of chucked in head first to sink or swim and unfortunately what we are seeing is them sinking." Teachers at Dandenong North primary school have been talking to students about the dangers of joining gangs. Dandenong North primary school principal Kevin Mackay said he has overheard students mention the Apex gang at school, which has prompted teachers to talk to students about ways they can contribute positively to their community. "Like all kids, they need to belong and it's hard to find something to belong to... some young kids want to belong to the gang because they look up to their older brothers, and want to develop a life of their own."

But he said he was not concerned that any students would join the gang. He said the school had an ambitious English language program which saw most students speak and write English fluently within a three-year time period, while the school also employed support staff from different cultural backgrounds, to ensure migrant students had positive role models. A government spokesman said the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship had spent $201,000 on African community initiatives this financial year, and an extra $1.1 million teaching refugees their rights and responsibilities. "The Government partners with agencies to work with community leaders and representatives from Victoria's culturally diverse communities to ensure new migrants have the support they need to make Victoria home," he said. A new round of community grants will open on Tuesday.