Officers held their lines at the intersection of Swanston and Collins streets and the protesters moved away unaccompanied, north along Swanston Street.

As hundreds of people spilled from halted trams near the intersection, some passersby verbally confronted the protesters.

Violence broke out again a short time later outside Melbourne Central when a woman shouted at the demonstrators to move and stop blocking people “trying to get home”.

The woman put her bag down and approached some of the protesters, who threw water on her and a fight broke out. Others tried to stop the scuffle.

Some witnesses clapped for the woman as she walked away, before she picked up her bag and swung it at the activists.

Yarra Trams staff could be seen monitoring the scene and directing the movement of trams, but police were not present at that point.

A group of young men followed the protesters to the State Library lawn, yelling “f--- trans rights”. The two groups clashed, and the activists chased the men down Swanston Street and into a small alley.

Victoria Police was asked to comment about why the demonstration was allowed to continue without police intervention.

Earlier, on the steps of parliament after the anti-trans rally, former Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick was involved in a scuffle.

Loading

Meddick, who was attending the pro-trans protest, got into a verbal altercation with a man after police tried to disperse the crowd and moved to keep the two groups apart. But the members from both sides came into contact on Macarthur Street.

The altercation descended into a struggle between the two men, and Meddick was pushed over.

Meddick has two transgender children.

Melbourne’s Women Will Speak rally is part of the global Let Women Speak movement, which argues that laws promoting trans inclusion have eroded sex-based rights and intruded unreasonably into women’s spaces. It follows this month’s UK Supreme Court ruling, which decreed that for the purposes of Britain’s Equality Act, a woman is defined by her biological sex.

Before the rally, Victoria Police enacted special search-and-arrest powers to deter neo-Nazis from gatecrashing the women’s rights rally and planned counter-protest by trans activists.

The parliamentary precinct became a designated area, meaning people could be searched for weapons, told to remove face coverings and arrested if they refused police direction to leave.

Victoria Police said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that 38 searches had been conducted, both to remove prohibited face coverings and search for weapons, but no weapons were found.

The designated search area was active until 8pm on Saturday.

This is the first time such police powers have been used to protect an event associated with the Let Women Speak movement, which has provoked confrontations between feminists and trans activists around the world, and two years ago in Melbourne, when far-right agitators performed a Nazi salute on the steps of state parliament.

Liberal MP Bev McArthur was expected to speak but did not appear at the gathering, which was also attended by Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick.

Counter-protesters attempted to drown out the speeches with chants, and blasted music by Kylie Minogue on a large sound system.

Police searched pro-trans demonstrators using metal detectors as they approached the event.