"I was just screaming. I didn't know what was happening," she said. City Square Brunetti staff Denise Papale and Valerio Celenza were working when the gang violence erupted around them. Credit:Penny Stephens "There were children and old women at tables - it was full because of the festival." Customers crammed inside the tiny al fresco cafe and the upstairs staff area, as Ms Papale and her colleague Valerio Celenza rushed to close the doors. As the pair pushed shut the cafe's doors, Ms Papale's wrist was crushed.

"It was an accident, but we were hurrying. We had to protect the customers," she said. The so-called Apex gang came to public attention after a large-scale brawl in Melbourne's city centre last year. Credit:twitter.com/@russmulry Ms Papale said she feared for her life as the rioters - from the so-called Apex gang and predominantly of South Sudanese descent - tore through the cafe, smashing coffee cups and plates. "I was worried I would not see my family again," Ms Papale said. Hundreds were caught up in the riot.

"It was like animals." Mr Celenza, who has lived in Australia for 18 months, said he had never seen violence on such a scale before. Police out in force on Sunday night, after Saturday's riot. Credit:Chris Hopkins "I was thinking terrorism, you just didn't know," he said. Ms Papale was back at work on Monday, but said she had needed to go to hospital about her wrist.

Brunetti cafe in City Square. Credit:Eddie Jim Russell Mulry had sensed things were about to turn ugly as a mass of young men and teenagers converged on Federation Square. They then ran down Swanston Street yelling "f--k the police" before storming Brunetti's. Apex gang members rioting outside Flinders Street station last March Credit:@russmulry, via Twitter "Chairs were being picked up and being thrown. People were sitting down having coffee and their glasses were being picked up and thrown across the street, from one side of Flinders Lane to the other side," Mr Mulry said.

"Anything they could pick up was being thrown. "People were running for cover, just trying not to get hit by those flying chairs. "You had kids in prams coming home from Moomba with their families ... and you've got families with old people all trying to dodge missiles coming from the air. "Everyone was caught in the crossfire." Police were out in force at Brunetti's cafe in City Square on Monday morning.

Like Ms Papale, Mr Mulry said he and other innocent bystanders had been forced to fend for themselves. "Police actually weren't there when chairs and stuff were being thrown, because they were outnumbered," he said. "They were still hovering around the fast-food outlets and descended to City Square basically after it all had finished and they [the rioters] had all run off in the other direction, back to Federation Square." Mr Mulry said the rioters taunted police as they ran back and forth between Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and Swanston Street. "They didn't give a rats about themselves, they didn't give a rats about the authorities, or the general public. They were out to cause chaos, and they did it," he said.

Earlier, people had been forced back inside a restaurant for their own safety as the brawl erupted in front of them. "We were absolutely terrified," said Troy West, from Bendigo, who spent 45 minutes locked inside a Federation Square restaurant as police tried to contain the rioters outside. "You're there for a night out and you don't expect to see gang violence." Loading Mr Mulry said he would be hesitant to return to the CBD for a festival at night.

"I'm still shaken up by it. I don't think I'll go in any time soon," he said.