ABOVE: The suspects in the case - call Crime Stoppers.

REPORT: Melbourne detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding what seems to be an unprovoked assault in King Street just after midnight on Sunday.

The victim a 22-year-old man from Warrandyte was walking along the footpath on King Street near the intersection of Flinders Street at 12.30am when he was attacked by three men.

The victim was struck to the face and fell unconscious to the ground.

Police have been told that while the man lay on the ground the three men continued to kick and punch him.

Two friends of the victim attempted to help him but they were also assaulted by the men, one of the friends receiving a gash to his eyebrow in the incident.

An off-duty crowd controller intervened and the assailants took off - crossing over the King Street river overpass and disappearing into the Crown Casino car parking area.

The victim was taken to hospital with facial injuries requiring plastic surgery to reconstruct his nose and a broken eye socket.

Investigators have released photographs of three men they wish to speak to in relation to the incident.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au.

PLAYING NOW: Hollywood actor Jeff Bridges speaks to 3AW's Donna Demaio having just appeared on the David Letterman show in the US.

Bridges talks about his Oscar chances, how to keep a marriage alive and why he wants to come to Australia.

After five years of campaigning, Sports Today's Gerard Healy and weekend cyclists in Melbourne's bayside suburbs have had a win.

The City of Kingston last night voted to ban parking on Beach Road between 6:00am and 10.00am on Saturdays and Sundays from Mentone to Mordialloc.

The ban is likely to start in a few weeks - and run for a 12-month trial.

Kingston Mayor Steve Staikos believes motorists will quickly adjust to the new rules.

ABOVE: Former head of the Police Association, Paul Mullett, speaks to 3AW's Neil Mitchell about Noel Ashby being found not guilty of perjury today.

RELATED AUDIO:

• 3AW's Neil Mitchell slams the OPI
• Simon Overland challenges Mullett

REPORT: Former Assistant Police Commissioner Noel Ashby has been acquitted of perjury charges.

Ashby was facing 11 counts of perjury arising from evidence he gave at an Office Of Police Integrity inquiry in 2007.

But a ruling last week by Supreme Court Justice Robert Osborne which found the hearing was invalid because of a procedural mistake effectively meant prosecurors had no other evidence to lead against him.

The prosecutor told the court this morning there would be no appeal against last week's ruling, and as a result, no evidence would be led against Ashby.

Ashby's lawyer told the court that a verdict of 'not guilty' should be entered into the record, which is what Justice Osborne did.

Former Police Association boss Paul Mullett - who last year had perjury charges against him dropped - told 3AW Radio both he and Ashby will now consider whether to take legal action.

When quizzed by Mitchell as to what today's verdict means for the Office Of Police Integrity, Mullett made his opinion very clear.

"Today has got ot be the final nail in its coffin," Mullet said of the OPI.

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ABOVE: State Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu with Neil Mitchell.

REPORT: Victoria has a serious and increasing problem with racist attacks on Indian students, but the state government is in denial and blaming the victims, Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said last night.

In a provocative speech to Australian and Indian business leaders, Mr Baillieu said many of the assaults were the result of ''racist violence'' and Premier John Brumby had failed to confront the problem.

Mr Baillieu also took aim at police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, condemning his weekend advice to international students that they should ''look poor'' by not displaying expensive items such as laptops and iPods.

Mr Baillieu said the problem of racial violence had been allowed to escalate while the government provided excuses, attracting international condemnation.

''Leadership is not … this government's continued attempt to blame the victim by suggesting he or she had brought it upon themselves through their conduct or the provocative carrying of iPods, computers and other such nonsense,'' he said.

His attack follows a stinging rebuke from Indian high commissioner Sujatha Singh, who told Governor-General Quentin Bryce Victoria was ''in denial'' over the problem.

The Premier hit back, with his spokeswoman saying Mr Baillieu should know better than to use divisive and inflammatory comments that he knows are not true. ''Mr Baillieu's deceptive treatment of this issue makes things worse not better,'' spokeswoman Fiona Macrae said.

Mr Brumby had condemned racist attacks in the strongest possible words for some time, she said, with government measures such as more police, stronger police powers and a focus on high-crime areas already producing results.

The Opposition Leader's speech comes after a recent escalation in the international dispute over Victoria's response to the assaults and coverage of the attacks in the Indian media.

The Premier has accused the Indian media and some government officials of giving unbalanced versions of the assaults. Mr Brumby has also requested a meeting with Mrs Singh following revelations in The Age of her meeting with Ms Bryce.

In his speech to the Australia India Business Council, Mr Baillieu said Victoria did not have a racist society but ''a minority of individuals whose racist behaviour is creating fear and terror for many who live in our community''.

Having met many attack victims, he did not accept the government's argument that there was no particular targeting of Indians beyond statistical expectations. ''There are some who say these are not racial attacks. To those people let me say this: … In the course of those assaults they were racially abused,'' he said.

Last week Mr Brumby said Indian students were underrepresented in the assault figures in terms of population share, saying the attacks were a statistical, not a social phenomenon.

''If there are acts of violence, particularly if any violence is racially motivated, I have condemned it in the strongest possible terms,'' he said at the time.

The Premier's criticism of the Indian media came after police charged an Indian man who had allegedly set himself alight as part of a false insurance claim, and news that an Indian couple had been charged with the murder of an Indian man in NSW. Both cases were widely reported in India and internationally as being racist attacks.

The government and police have said Mr Overland's comments about acting poor were taken out of context.

Brumby hits back over racism calls

As India's top envoy to Australia reportedly hits out at Victoria as being a state 'in denial', Premier John Brumby joins Neil Mitchell to send a strong message to the Indian media. Read and hear more.

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