Councillor Nam Quach is helped to his feet after the meeting erupted into a brawl over parking meters. Star Weekly senior journalist Ben Millar was at the meeting and described the attack against two councillors as unprovoked. Mr Millar said councillor Grant Miles was king hit while still in his chair by a "middle-aged man" after he and other councillors voted against the motion to repeal paid parking, prompting uproar from the crowd. He said councillors and council staff moved to stop the assailant, but chairs went flying as another man joined the affray and Cr Nam Quach, who had also voted against the motion, was picked up and "body slammed" to the floor. "Cr Quach was left bleeding from the mouth while Cr Miles appeared shaken but not seriously injured by the punch," Mr Millar reported.

A Yarraville parking meter damaged by vandals in September. Cr Quach was being monitored for concussion and nursing a bloody lip when Fairfax Media spoke to him late on Tuesday night. "I'm seriously hurt," he said. "I feel for the people that had to see it. It's disgusting to be honest." Cr Grant Miles was king hit while still in his chair by a "middle-aged man", according to a witness. Credit:Damjan Janevski The councillor said he had been attempting to restrain the man who had hit Cr Miles from behind when he was lifted up into the air and slammed head first into the ground. His glasses were broken in the incident.

"It was extremely painful. I certainly got dazed and fuzzy there for a bit," Cr Quach said. Cr Nam Quach was picked up and "body slammed" to the floor. Credit:Maribyrnong City Council We applaud people in the Arab Spring standing up and saying this is not right. But when it happens in Yarraville people say that we are yuppies. Spokeswoman from Yarraville Village Says No To Paid Parking, Megan Darling, said while the violence was not appropriate, the "council have forced this behaviour". "We applaud people in the Arab Spring standing up and saying this is not right," she said.

"But when it happens in Yarraville, people say that we are yuppies." Those opposing the parking meters argue that the machines are destroying trader businesses in Yarraville, a gentrified inner-city suburb west of the CBD. Ms Darling said "it got physical" within seconds of the motion being rejected, which was decided by a vote by Maribyrnong mayor Cameron McDonald. "There was a lot of screaming, chanting, yelling, heckling - a lot of people who don't like what council decided were yelling it out." "We're trying to get rid of a bad decision our council made," she told ABC 774 on Wednesday morning.

"Then we had another one of our ward councillors, councillor Miles, smirk at us. He smiled and someone cracked. So the crowd surged forward. Someone slipped past a couple of the council officers and picked one of the councillors up and dropped him on his head, and then punched another one in the face a couple of times." When asked for details about what she described as "fisticuffs", she said "no one is going to talk" about witnessing the incident. No charges have yet been laid by police, but the investigation is ongoing. Cr Miles, who said he was feeling fine after being king hit, said the incident would probably have implications for how council meetings across Australia are conducted. "In the line of council duty you don't expect to be physically assaulted and unfortunately in the future I think council security will have to be beefed up," he said.

Cr Miles, who has spoken to Footscray police, said he did not recognise the person who had attacked him. "I would say that in regards to this [parking fee] issue, most of the people that I have dealt with are thoroughly decent people … who are rational and open to communication." However it is not the first time opposition to the Yarraville parking meters has escalated into criminal behaviour. Earlier this year a number of the machines were vandalised. Do you know more? Contact aisha.dow@theage.com.au