A national rally in Mildura of members of the Rebels Motorcycle Club has passed without major incident. The outlaw motorcycle gang quietly obeyed directions from police over the weekend, keeping their word to behave in the north west Victorian city.
The Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang has left Mildura, and the city appears to be unscathed.
Several hundred Rebels members travelled to Mildura for the meeting at the Irymple Paintball site, before the start of their national 'run'.
The group's activities were monitored by local police, the operation response unit, road policing specialist units, the dog squad, airwing and detectives from Taskforce Echo.
But the National President of the Rebels Alex Vella says the high profile police presence was unnecessary.
"I suppose they are doing their job; [they're] taking the heat of the politics, of the mess in Australia with Julia Gillard and all the taxes she is bringing, so lets put the headlights on the Rebels Motorcycle Club."
"It's a bit of a joke but anyway, we've got bikes registered we've got licences and we are enjoying our ride."
Dozens of uniformed and plain-clothed police - many with guns and some with dogs - lined the road in and out of a converted paintball premises where the Rebels Motorcycle Club members gathered at Irymple on Saturday, before they rode off under the watchful gaze of a very strong police presence.
There was ample anticipation, lots of noise, plenty of police, as about 400 seemingly well-behaved outlaw motorcycle club members gathered in Mildura on Friday and over the weekend.
After days of speculation Assistant Commissioner Jack Blayney commented on Friday that hundreds of Rebels members were expected in Mildura for the club's national conference.
He said at one stage that police had expected almost 1000 bikies from the club's 70 national chapters to attend, but there wasn't anywhere near that number in Mildura.
Earlier in the week, police monitored the bikies as they made their way from Western and South Australia, through Victoria from Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland.
One member even came from New Zealand for the run.
Police say they kept an eye on the Rebels as they rode out of Mildura, heading for South Australia.
