Reports suggest that Danny Lim may have a fractured skull after NSW police violently arrested him following his Stop Racism peaceful protest

Reports suggest that Danny may have a fractured skull after NSW police violently arrested him. 

The “disturbing” arrest of elderly Sydney street personality Danny Lim that left him with a brain bleed and neck injury is being internally investigated by New South Wales police after earlier announcing an independent review.

The “discontinued” arrest by officers on Tuesday morning in the Queen Victoria Building in the CBD is being treated as a “complaint”, according to a police spokesperson, and as such will be investigated by another station.

“The matter has been triaged as a complaint and allocated to an investigator from another command within central metropolitan region,” the spokesperson said on Wednesday morning.

“The internal investigation will have oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.”

Police on Tuesday said an “independent review has been launched, which will examine the actions of police during the incident” after earlier saying footage from body-worn cameras was being examined.

The NSW Greens’ police spokesperson, Sue Higginson, has described it as a backflip from the force and is writing to the police minister, Paul Toole, to demand an independent probe.

“You can’t have police investigating police,” she said. “Not having an independent investigation into this is completely what the NSW police state looks like.”

She said it was the government’s “populist, disastrous draconian law and order agenda” playing out and protesters needed to be safe from police violence.“It played out right in front of us on this poor man, who is an icon, who is loved by many, is well known for his public, peaceful protest, and now he is hospitalised,” she said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Toole said he was awaiting the findings of the police review, which he also described as independent.

“I have spoken with the Police Commissioner, who has advised me an independent review has been established to examine the actions of police during the arrest of Mr Lim,” he said.

“I will await the findings of that review, and wish him a full recovery.”

Lim, 78, was in a stable condition at St Vincent’s on Wednesday and being monitored after a brain bleed and neck injury were discovered after he was was brought in bleeding from the cheek.

He had been walking through the CBD building towards the Town Hall train station wearing a sandwich board reading “SMILE CVN’T! WHY CVN’T?” when security called the police on him.

Lim told Guardian Australia the officers then “smashed me on the concrete floor”, causing his cheek to bleed, as can be seen in the footage that also showed the two officers handcuffing him while on the ground.

Danny Lim, who is widely recognised in Sydney for his sandwich-board signs, was left bloodied after police tried to arrest him when he “failed to comply with a move on order” from the Queen Victoria Building today.

Chris Murphy, whose law firm represents Lim, said his first scan had shown bleeding on the brain and doctors were monitoring him overnight.

Confronting footage taken by a bystander shows a limp Lim laying on the floor as the officers handcuff him and sit him up.

The 78-year-old yelled ”let me go” as the two officers grabbed his arms and subsequently tripped him, causing Lim to fall head-first onto the tiled floor.

Police said Lim had failed to comply when he was asked to leave the building by security, and then officers.

“Police will allege the man was subsequently issued with a move on direction by officers and failed to comply,” they said in a statement.

“The man’s arrest was discontinued after he struggled with police and sustained an injury to his cheekbone …

“As inquiries into the incident continue, an independent review has been launched, which will examine the actions of police during the incident.”

Lim was treated at the scene and then taken to St Vincent’s Hospital by paramedics.

Lim has claimed police “smashed me on the concrete floor”.

“I could be dead when they threw me down like that,” he told The Guardian from hospital.

Murphy said a neurosurgeon would assess Lim regarding the brain bleeding on Wednesday.

“Right now in hospital: Condition serious Danny Lim after police violence today. Staff in tears,” he said.

Police are investigating and will review body cameras worn by the officers involved.

Lim was arrested in 2019 for wearing a sign sandwich board sign that said ”SMILE CVN’T! WHY CVN’T?”.