Man disguised as clown arrested outside fast food restaurant in Victoria

A man wearing a clown mask and allegedly armed with an axe was arrested outside a fast food restaurant in Moe, southeast of Melbourne, on Sunday.

Police said they received reports a man was standing outside a fast food restaurant on the Princes Freeway around 3.30am on Sunday and was allegedly approaching vehicles dressed as a clown.

Investigators allege the man, armed with an axe, approached a woman who was alone in her car on Lloyd Street before doing the same thing to a number of cars exiting the drive-through at the nearby fast food restaurant.

Authorities said they attended the scene and approached a group of men who denied having any knowledge of the incident.

After conducting a search of the cars in the area, police said they located a clown mask, axe and baseball bat.

A 23-year-old Eagle Point man was arrested at the scene.

Police said he is expected to be charged with summons with assault, weapons, public order and disguise-related offences.

Victoria Police is reminding the public it does not tolerate intimidation and the penalty for possessing an article of disguise is up to two years imprisonment.

The World Clown Association president Randy Christensen this week said he was against the current worldwide craze of people dressing up as clowns to terrorise people.

Mr Christensen said the so-called purge was being driven by social media, and the association didn't consider people participating to be “true clowns”.