MELBOURNE (AFP) — The unprecedented use of pepper spray to subdue rowdy fans at the Australian Open had not tarnished the tournament's international reputation, organisers insisted Wednesday.
Police used the spray in a confrontation with fans at Tuesday night's match between Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece as ugly crowd scenes marred the season-opening Grand Slam for the second straight year.
Images of the fracas were beamed around the world by the huge media contingent in town for the Open but tournament director Craig Tiley denied the event once dubbed "the Happy Slam" was facing an international image crisis.
"The reputation of the tournament has not been hurt," Tiley told reporters.
"What the world is also seeing is an unbelievable event.
"What does concern us is when people come to deliberately disrupt other members of the crowd."
But Victoria state opposition leader Ted Baillieu said events at the Open "sent an appalling picture of Melbourne to the world".
"God help us if we have to wear gas masks to go to the tennis," he said.
Tiley backed the tough action taken by police, part of a zero tolerance policy to crowd behaviour which followed violent clashes between Serbian and Croatian fans last year.
"Certainly in this case the actions that they were forced to take were the correct actions," he said.
Police denied they were overzealous, although they admitted some innocent bystanders in the crowd were hit by the spray -- an irritant that leaves people choking with burning eyes.
"(It's) not an over-reaction," Victoria Police superintendent John Cooke said.
Cooke said two officers warned a trio of Economidis supporters yelling obscenities in Greek and English to settle down but they retreated after one of the fans threw a punch at a policeman.
The police returned with reinforcements and used pepper spray when the three fans and others in their group became threatening, Cooke said.
He said 10 spectators who were not among the troublemakers were treated after being affected by the spray, also known as OC spray.
Cooke said while such "secondary exposure" of bystanders was unfortunate, the situation would have been worse if police had not used the spray.
"Had we not used the OC spray and resorted to a physical confrontation, one-on-one, in that sort of environment, I can guarantee we would have ended up with injuries," he said.
Eyewitnesses said the number of people affected by the spray was much higher than the figure acknowledged by police.
Elena Arapu said she was sitting behind the group targeted by police when the spray was used.
"Everyone was running for the exits, little kids, everyone," she told Melbourne's Age newspaper. "Me and my friend were sprayed, we couldn't breathe.
"All they (the fans) were doing was chanting, it was a complete over-reaction."
The three fans who sparked the incident were Wednesday banned from returning to the tournament this year and were expected to be charged with a range of offences, including assaulting police and resisting arrest.
Police also revealed that they were investigating allegations a drunk man "inappropriately touched" a 12-year-old girl on the buttocks at the tournament on Monday.
At last year's event, three men were arrested for taking indecent photographs up female spectators' skirts, with one subsequently jailed for two months, and a five-year-old boy was assaulted in a toilet.
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