Racial turf war on in Sydney

[Anarch]

Call for peace on beach

From: AAP
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17502040-421,00.html

December 08, 2005


Cronulla ... police patrols have been stepped up / Chris Hyde


NSW Premier Morris Iemma has warned locals at Sydney's Cronulla Beach not to take the law into their own hands, promising those responsible for recent violence would be brought to justice.

A number of text messages have been circulating after two violent incidents at the beach in the past week, including an attack on two lifeguards on Sunday.


Yesterday, a brawl erupted at the beach when a gang of youths allegedly turned on a media crew.

Mr Iemma today called for calm, urging people not to take the law into their own hands.

"Our streets are there for everybody to be safe and to go about their business," Mr Iemma told Macquarie Radio.

He said violence at the beach would not be tolerated and said locals must let police do their job.


"Place the trust in the police, they made some arrests, they had success, they made a breakthrough," Mr Iemma said.

"Let the police finish the job ... don't you take the law into your own hands."

One message circulating in the Sutherland shire urges "Aussies" to take revenge against "Lebs and wogs".

"Bring your mates and let's show them that this is our beach and they are never welcome," the message says.

Stephen Leahy, rescue services manager for Surf Life Saving Sydney, said one message forwarded to him had urged vigilante style attacks.

"It really is quite a strong message, encouraging Australian men to go to the beach on Sunday to act as vigilantes. It's nothing short of that," he told ABC radio.

"I'm led to believe there's a similar message sent to the middle eastern community to make sure that they're protected as well, through just force by numbers."

Despite the recent violence, Mr Leahy said a weekend surf carnival expected to attract 1000 nippers and their families would go ahead.
But he said extra precautions had been taken in case the situation erupted into violence.

Mr Leahy said members of the Middle Eastern community had previously discussed fears that lifesavers might not rescue them if they got into trouble.

"I'm more than happy to reassure anyone, irrespective of who you are, what colour you are, what creed or race or religion you are, is that if you're in trouble ... you will be looked after," he said.

The Liberal state Member for Cronulla, Malcolm Kerr, also appealed to people to ignore the text message urging people to rally on Sunday.

"We don't want to see that happening," Mr Kerr told ABC radio.

Police yesterday charged an 18-year-old man over the weekend attack on the two lifeguards.

A 20-year-old man also was charged with malicious damage after a press photographer alleged he had his equipment damaged in the beach brawl yesterday.

[Jimbo Gomez]

Mr Leahy said members of the Middle Eastern community had previously discussed fears that lifesavers might not rescue them if they got into trouble.

If only it were so... :(

[Felix the Cat]

Hah I knew it

I read a heavily sanitised, race-neutral account of these disturbances a couple of days ago, and knew right off there was more to it than they were letting on

[Anarch]

LOL. They said a lot more on television last night than I'd heard about it before.

The sad thing is, I'm 800km away.

[Hakluyt]

some updates:

http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/young_australians_call_a_spade_a_spade/
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/young_australians_finally_fed_up_with_muslim_arrogance_and_aggression/

“Scuffles have broken out after about 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, converged on Sydney’s Cronulla Beach amid fears of more violence there. Two men of middle eastern appearance were seen being pursued and attacked as they tried to flee the crowd. One of them was later escorted away by police, with blood streaming from his brow. As the second man fled, his short was torn by an angry group pursuing him on foot. Earlier, a third man was also seen fleeing from a gang running after him.

[Felix the Cat]

Hm. You shouldn't attack people where they expect to be attacked. They'll just clear the scene and be back when you leave.

[Anarch]

I don't think Lebos are going to gang up on five thousand Aussies, cowcube. This is good. The tide is turning, albeit slowly.

[Petr]

Romper Stomper?


Petr

[Anarch]

Romper Stomper was about Vietnamese in Melbourne. Lebanese are different. They usually speak a variety of mutilated English and act like niggers.

[Anarch]

Note: I love my country :D


Race-fuelled violence spreads

From: AAP
From correspondents in Sydney
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17536989-2,00.html

December 12, 2005

Race-fuelled violence spread through Sydney beachside suburbs overnight after chanting mobs chased down and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance and clashed with police at Cronulla Beach during the day.

At least 12 people were arrested at the southern Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla in a near-riot which erupted after text messages began circulating earlier this week among rival groups urging attacks on each other.


Despite a strong police presence at Cronulla, there were numerous assaults on people of Middle Eastern appearance and on an ambulance crew.

In an apparently-related attack later last night, a 23-year-old man was stabbed in the back outside a golf club at nearby Woolooware by what police described as a group of males of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance.

About the same time, up to 50 carloads of youths smashed up over 100 cars with baseball bats and other weapons in the eastern beach suburb of Maroubra, in apparent retaliation for the Cronulla beatings.

Riot police were also called in to the beachside suburb of Brighton-le-Sands to control groups of brawling youths who had reportedly thrown projectiles at police.

But the trouble first flared at Cronulla, with mobs of youths chanting racist slogans and carrying Australian flags attacked youths of Middle Eastern appearance and turned on police who tried to control the violence.


Two paramedics were also injured as they tried to rescue a group of people from the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club, where they had fled to escape the violence.

The mob broke the ambulance vehicle's windows and kicked its doors as the paramedics tried to get the group out.

Police, who used capsicum spray and batons in their battle to subdue the rioters, were also pelted with beer bottles.

The trouble began with scuffles about midday yesterday (AEDT) after thousands of people, many carrying Australian flags and dressed in Australian shirts, rallied at the beach.
As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area today, one man on the back of a ute began to shout "No more Lebs" - a chant picked up by the group around him.


Others in the crowd yelled "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... Oi, Oi, Oi".

Many had adorned their bodies with racist slogans. One shirtless teenager walked by, this message painted on his back: "It's time for a f---ing war, so join the army of hardcore".
Authorities had expected yesterday's violence after the two incidents - an attack on two lifeguards last Sunday and a brawl later in the week in which youths turned on a media crew.

[Anarch]

Alcohol and hate shatter summer idyll

From: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17536841-2,00.html
By Luke McIlveen and Kara Lawrence

December 12, 2005

THEY called it a day of pride, but it will go down as a day of national disgrace. [Lucifer: ROFL Sure it will, fuckin' leftist bastards - I don't know of ANYONE who was offended in my class when we read about the Lambing Flat race riots during the gold rush.]


Thousands of drunken youths descended on Cronulla in Sydney's south yesterday for the race riots police had feared.


"I'm an Australian, I was born here," a youth of Middle Eastern descent told locals who had taunted him with chants of "Kill Lebs".

Minutes later, he was left covered in blood, punched to the ground and kicked, before being led to safety by police.

Two girls of Middle Eastern descent were also pushed to the ground and pelted with beer bottles as police tried to rescue them.
The day began as a show of solidarity with thousands of locals draping themselves in Australian flags and calling for peace in their beachside suburb.


The day began as a show of solidarity with thousands of locals draping themselves in Australian flags and calling for peace in their beachside suburb.

Up to 150 police, including the dog squad and the PolAir helicopter, were positioned to cope with the 5000-strong crowd.


But as the beer flowed into the afternoon, the huge crowd became violent, roaming the streets in search of a target for their anger.

The threats had been made since two volunteer lifesavers were bashed eight days ago - and yesterday, they were looking to get square.

Those youths of Middle Eastern descent who did venture to Cronulla became victims of mob violence.
Police rescued the victims of the bashings and rushed them to safety through the front entrance of the local Northies pub.



"What the Lebs did last week was low and it's time we showed a bit of pride towards where we live," Luke O'Brien, a volunteer lifesaver said.

Another local, Peter, said the huge show of force yesterday had been "coming for five or six years".

"Our girls can't get from the water to their towels without being threatened by these maggots," he said.

In one of the early outbreaks of violence, a teenager of Middle Eastern descent was chased from the beach-side park across the road to side park across the road to Northies by a mob of hundreds.

He was assaulted before seeking refuge inside the hotel.

A hotel security guard said he had seen the victim with two other young males and a young woman earlier in the day and they were not causing trouble.

Later, another man was trapped against the back of a ute and bashed in the back before a police officer stepped in.

Northies closed its doors at 2pm (AEDT) yesterday to avoid the mob and two bottle shops shut at the request of police.

Ambulance officers treated dozens of injuries, mostly assault-related injuries or from broken glass.

Shortly before 3pm, word spread among thousands of youths that a Lebanese gang was arriving at Cronulla train station.
Some of the mob entered the train station and jumped on a train, where they proceeded to search for anyone of Middle Eastern appearance.


They found two males and began bashing them before police intervened, using batons as they dragged the youths off the train and formed a human shield around the station.

The violence peaked about 4.20pm near the North Cronulla Surf Club when a brawl broke out and six males were injured.

Police escorted them into the club and called an ambulance, which was chaperoned through the crowd by mounted officers.

The mob gathered to block the ambulance's path and then began shouting and throwing bottles, smashing its windows.

The crowd also tried to kick in the doors. One ambulance officer was struck in the head with a bottle and another was cut on the arm by shattered glass.

Five of the six patients in the ambulance were taken into the care of police while the sixth man was taken to St George Hospital suffering injuries to his face and body.

By late afternoon, the baying crowd, many of them drunk, began to turn on riot squad police and emergency services.

By 7pm, 10 people had been arrested.
They included a 28-year-old Cronulla man, charged with affray, a 16-year-old Sutherland teenager, charged with offensive conduct, a 35-year-old Kareela man, charged with offensive conduct, and a 17-year-old Cronulla teenager charged with assaulting police.


Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin - himself a Cronulla local - branded the day's events as "nothing short of disgusting, and disgraceful".

"What has been occurring on some fronts is that people of Middle Eastern backgrounds that have been seen in the Cronulla area - a swarm of the crowd has approached these people with vile abuse, in the most un-Australian way."

[Jimbo Gomez]

Bravo Australia

[daisy]

in australia "anglo" is the abbreviation of anglo-celtic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Celtic) or anglo-irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish), which refers to the majority of australians who are of mixed english and irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_people) stock. roughly one third of australians are of irish ancestry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angloit won't be long before north african arab blacks start mating with australians. the (albino-irish) anglo-irish australians are in the same boat we are here in u.s. [just finished with south african blacks now starting on north african arab blacks] australians might as well stop fighting and go ahead and mate with north african arab blacks. looks like the gov has made most albinos the whores of babylon
Babylon, where prostitutes worked for the 'gods' (http://www.bilderberg.org/babylon.htm)
http://www.lyricsondemand.com/b/babylonwhoreslyrics/index.html
i do like that saying though it sounds kind of irish to me
it's time for a f---ing war, so join the army of hardcore

[Heimdall]

Interesting that the Lebs in Australia are trouble makers. I wonder why the ones that immigrated to the U.S. in the '60s and '70s went largely unnoticed. Is it because that the ones immigrating here were exclusively Christian, amongst the better to do Lebanese, a much larger population to integrate into, or the tendency of many Lebanese to not be very "Arab" looking at all (like Ralph Nader)?

[daisy]

to not be very "arab" looking at allarabs of the west are us. white albino christians already went over there and turned arabs of the west into albinos a long time ago.

[Alfred_Dunhill]

arabs of the west are us. white albino christians already went over there and turned arabs of the west into albinos a long time ago.


What are you on?

[daisy]

i am not on anything. i am telling the truth about albinos.
that is more than what the gov will do.
who are the arabs
arabs of the west attributed to the albino race, also called ‘the syrian or hebraic raceoh yeah and while i am at it. george washington was a white albino!
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:M1x5WmuQl-IJ:www.bestsyndication.com/images/people/george-Washington.jpg
the white albino people were called the people of God
named after moses

[Starr]

Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin - himself a Cronulla local - branded the day's events as "nothing short of disgusting, and disgraceful".

What has been occurring on some fronts is that people of Middle Eastern backgrounds that have been seen in the Cronulla area - a swarm of the crowd has approached these people with vile abuse, in the most un-Australian way."

Innocent, law abiding brown victims just going about their business attacked by these racists thugs. Shameful.:rolleyes:

Is it just me or do incidents like these seem to be picking up in frequency as of late in a few different places?

[daisy]

innocent, law abiding brown victims just going about their business attacked by these racists thugs.i am tired of innocent white people going to jail because they have not been told what's really going on. the gov is always going to be on the muds side. the gov has got to protect the muds long enough to turn them into albinos. white people must realize this instead of getting locked up for fighting it or stressing themselves out over the mixing.

[Hakluyt]

Interesting that the Lebs in Australia are trouble makers. I wonder why the ones that immigrated to the U.S. in the '60s and '70s went largely unnoticed. Is it because that the ones immigrating here were exclusively Christian, amongst the better to do Lebanese, a much larger population to integrate into, or the tendency of many Lebanese to not be very "Arab" looking at all (like Ralph Nader)?
I've found the older generation here in Canada to be similar (conservative, Christian, civilised) but their children have embraced the antagonistic identity of the Muslims (though it is not an entirely Muslim issue, it is a general youth problem)

This may not have happened in the US because, as you mentioned, much larger population, and because multicultural policies in Canada and Australia tended to favour the immigrants forming isolated communities as opposed to full integration

[Felix the Cat]

Islamic leaders say riots are un-Australian (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/islamic-leaders-say-riots-are-unaustralian/2005/12/12/1134235972001.html)

Australia's Islamic leaders have today condemned race fuelled violence in Sydney over the weekend.

The Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations (FAIR) described the riots as un-Australian, while a Queensland Islamic leader said the people needed to "get togther and sort out the tensions".

Sultan Deen, a spokesman for the Islamic Council of Queensland, said there was no excuse for such behaviour which saw drunken mobs attacking people of Middle Eastern appearance at Sydney's Cronulla beach yesterday.

A series of apparent revenge attacks followed overnight, spreading to other beach communities.

Asked if the same race-fuelled violence could happen in Brisbane, Mr Deen replied, "I hope not.''

Disgusted

Kuranda Seyit, director of FAIR, said today he was disgusted by attacks on people of Middle Eastern appearance by crowds of drunken yobs in Cronulla, in Sydney's south, yesterday.

A series of apparent revenge attacks - including two stabbings - occurred in Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands overnight.

The crowds at Cronulla were mobilised by text messages circulated throughout the community calling for revenge on "lebs and wogs" following an attack on two lifeguards last week.

"The Cronulla police must send a loud and clear message to others who are potentially considering vigilante action against fellow Australians," Mr Seyit said.

"Australia is pluralist society, with many faiths and traditions all ravelled into one.

"This is the unique success of this nation and we cannot let it fall into chaos and lawlessness."

'Underlying racism'

Mr Seyit said violence for any reason was not acceptable.

"I realise that the initial behaviour by the thugs who beat the lifeguard was unacceptable but to take it out any anyone who the mob think are not one of them, is not the solution," Mr Seyit said.

"Obviously the underlying racism and intolerance in the shire is now bubbling to the surface.

"We have over ... 3,000km of beaches on the east coast, there's plenty of sand and ocean there for everyone.

"What happened to the Australian idea of a fair go and tolerance?"

[OVERWATCH]

This disorderly, rampaging mob of rioting, drunken fools should be dealt with in the same manner that any other rioting mob should be dealt with, but is not.

They should be brutally beaten and dispersed by phalanxes of State Police wielding truncheons and tear gas.

"But what about the mudslims who act like niggers, we're doing the job that the police won't do" one might whine; and I retort that: in a State which employs draconian countermeasures against antisocial criminal misconduct, much of this alleged niggerish behaviour on the part of the mudslims would be 'nipped in the bud' by strong law enforcement; for the remainder, where a chap is offended at some off colour but legal remark made to his girlfriend as she heads for the towels, for instance, we could re-institute the noble practice of duelling.

One cannot ignore the root causes, however; mass immigration and multiculturalism.

[Starr]

The Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations (FAIR) described the riots as un-Australian, while a Queensland Islamic leader said the people needed to "get togther and sort out the tensions".

And if tons of non-islamic whites were immigrating to an islamic nation and commiting crimes, and the native population begin to respond, I am sure Islamic leaders would be talking about holding hands and "getting together to sort out tensions.:rofl:

[zenero]

I always had this weird image about Aussie's. I thought they were just lame kangaroohumpers. Just like California's finest beach-boy's. I was wrong, they managed to get 5000 anti-rag folks(including; gooks, aboriginals, and wannabe whites).

[Gorilla]

A number of text messages have been circulating after two violent incidents at the beach in the past week, including an attack on two lifeguards on Sunday.

I heard one of those was something akin to 'sieg heil to fydesie', or similar. Unlikely.

Police reported that the almost-pogrom needed to be 'geographically contained'. Skins were handing out flyers apparently. Imight even go there on sunday, where the lebs want 'a re match'.

[Felix the Cat]

(How is it possible to survive a beating by 50 people?)

Race riots spread to suburbs (http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/race-riots-spread-from-the-beach-to-the-suburbs/2005/12/11/1134235951313.html?page=fullpage)

RACIAL violence erupted in several Sydney suburbs last night in retaliation for a rampage by thousands of young residents through Cronulla that turned the seaside suburb into a battlefield.

Political, community and religious leaders joined stunned locals to condemn an afternoon of violence by a crowd that turned on people of Middle Eastern appearance and those trying to protect them, with police and ambulance officers also attacked.

As the violence spread, police cars raced through Sydney streets from Cronulla to Miranda, Brighton-le-Sands, Rockdale, Maroubra, Woolooware and Tempe. Police said they had received reports of firearms being "flashed" threateningly but not discharged. "So far we have had no one shot," an officer said.

A 23-year-old man was in St George Hospital in a serious condition after a fight in Woolooware about 10.25pm. A radio report said he had a knife embedded in his back. Police said the man was with friends when he had an altercation outside a golf club with a "group of males of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance".

In Brighton-le-Sands a group of people were reported to have taken down the Australian flag at the Brighton RSL Club and burnt it in the street. Youths were seen at a garage filling bottles with petrol in nearby Monterey.

Police closed Marine Parade, Maroubra, where people converged in vehicles on the beachfront and began fighting with locals including members of the Bra Boys surf gang. Police said 50 carloads of youths smashed more than 100 vehicles with baseball bats and other weapons. In the same suburb a young girl was punched in the face.

In Rockdale police gathered in riot gear following reports of youths armed with crowbars near the train station after 10pm, a car driver trying to run down a police officer, and items being thrown at police cars in Bay Street, Brighton-le-Sands. The street was blocked off.

Around North Cronulla beach and the surrounding streets, drunk teenagers communicated with each other on walkie-talkies about rumoured sightings of Lebanese gangs.

Commanders from the Bankstown and Campsie patrols were on alert amid fears of outbreaks of violence. Shortly before midnight police received reports of a convoy of up to 40 carloads of youths heading from Punchbowl Oval to the eastern suburbs.

By 12.30am today there were reports of 20 cars with men of Middle Eastern appearance at a BP petrol station in Cronulla, throwing rocks.

At least 13 people were injured during the earlier violence in Cronulla - including five police - and 12 people had been arrested last night.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, led a chorus of condemnation of the Cronulla attacks. "These hooligans have brought shame upon themselves," he said. "Some today tried to hide behind the Australian flag. The Australia that I know, and intend to preserve as Premier, does not support the sort of behaviour that we saw today."

The Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, said the rioters - many of them carrying the flag and even singing the anthem - were "clearly un-Australian". "I'm ashamed as a man and as the Commissioner of Police," he said. "Never have I seen a mob turn like they have today, particularly on … women and … the NSW Ambulance Service. That has brought a higher level of shame to those involved."

There had "clearly … been a level of racial vilification … and those who are found to behave this way will be prosecuted".

One bashing victim, 19-year-old Mustafa, said at Sutherland Hospital: "They threw bottles, broken bottles, food, anything they could get their hands on. And what were we doing? We were there for a swim."

Another victim, who gave his name only as Moot, said: "We are going to have the last laugh. I got beaten up by 50 people. I am half Lebanese, part-Aboriginal. I am more Australian than the Anglos."

The Assistant Commissioner, Mark Goodwin, who co-ordinated the riot response, said a taskforce would review video footage.

The violence followed a week of simmering tension after an attack the previous Sunday on two lifesavers. Appeals by text message for "Aussies" to descend on the beach to reclaim it drew a crowd estimated at 5000 people, but a carnival atmosphere in the morning gave way to an ugly mood as a hard core of about 200 turned violent. Thousands chanted them on.

The trouble began with scuffles about midday. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore area, a man on the back of a utility began to shout "No more Lebs" - a chant picked up by the group around him. Others in the crowd yelled "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie … Oi, Oi, Oi". Members of the mob set upon their prey with fists, feet, flags and beer bottles. Two paramedics were injured as they tried to get victims out of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, where they had fled to escape the rioters. One of the women had fled into the clubhouse for safety after her headscarf was ripped off.

The crowd broke the windows of the ambulance and kicked its doors as the officers attempted to get the group out. Police, who used capsicum spray and batons in their battle to quell the rioters, were also pelted with beer bottles, and in some cases their cars were swamped and stomped on as they tried to move from one violent flare-up to the next. They sometimes appeared powerless to keep up with the moving mob.

An 18-year-old man who had ventured to the beach for a dip just before 11am was the first to be targeted. He was chased by 200 people to the Northies Hotel, where 20 bouncers joined police in holding back a crowd that swelled to several thousand.

Many people were drinking in a nearby park - some clearly underage. Late yesterday hotels and bottle shops agreed to stop takeaway alcohol sales.

One man was taken by police into Northies, which became a "safe haven". Police also set up a safe house in the North Cronulla clubhouse.

About 7.30pm a young man of Lebanese appearance, arms held out imploringly, sprinted south on a footpath towards the protective shield of the police stationed at Cronulla Beach, hotly pursued by a drunken mob numbering hundreds. He outran the mob and was saved by police, who placed him in the back of a police van, which was then surrounded by the mob.

As the van drove away, one young Caucasian girl laughed and said to a male companion: "That was sick. I've never seen a dumb Leb run so fast. How good was that?"

Earlier a man was cornered in Mitchell Street and had several bottles smashed over his head while he was punched and kicked by dozens of screaming people.

He had been walking with two other men when he was hit by a young man draped in the Australian flag. A bystander tried to stop the assault, saying "He's not a Leb, he's not a Leb".

A lone policeman came to his aid, spraying a canister of capsicum spray to try to disperse the crowd until more support arrived.

Many shopkeepers closed their doors as the crowd converged on Cronulla station. Two men who had just stepped off a train were bashed by about 50 people after they were forced against the carriage. Police said the invasion of the station appeared to have been prompted by a bogus text message saying a trainload of people was due to arrive from Bankstown.

Sarah Id, 17, and her sister Amy, 15, from Sutherland, who were both born in the area and whose parents are Lebanese immigrants, found themselves under the protection of police and transit security guards as they waited for their train while 1000 people stood opposite. The pair had gone to Cronulla Beach, as they had done most weekends as children, "just to get a tan".

"We had to get out because everyone was telling us to go home. Both girls and guys were shouting at us and a woman told us to watch our backs," Sarah said.

"They were saying, 'You don't belong here'. We were born here and went to Jannali High."

Neither the Prime Minister nor the federal Opposition Leader wanted to comment last night.

[Anarch]

I always had this weird image about Aussie's. I thought they were just lame kangaroohumpers. Just like California's finest beach-boy's. I was wrong, they managed to get 5000 anti-rag folks(including; gooks, aboriginals, and wannabe whites).

I highly doubt gooks, abos and 'wannabe whites' were there, Zenero.

[Felix the Cat]

Lucifer, when did all these Lebanese arrive in Australia?

[Anarch]

During the Lebanese civil war, our politicians accepted a lot of them in. During the 80's/early 90's.

[Jimbo Gomez]

Think they learned a lesson now?

[Anarch]

Fresh threats of race violence

From: AAP
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17541271-2,00.html


December 12, 2005

POLICE are tonight on the alert for new violence following some of the worst race-based clashes ever seen in Australia.

Text messages were reportedly circulating in Sydney tonight, encouraging retaliation for yesterday's clashes at beachside suburbs including Cronulla and Maroubra.


Sixteen people were charged yesterday after a 5000-strong alcohol-fuelled mob, some waving flags and chanting racist slogans, chased and beat people of Middle Eastern appearance at Cronulla beach. Thirty-one people were injured.

The clashes were sparked by an attack on young Cronulla surf lifesavers the week before, and text messages calling for retaliation.

Within hours of yesterday's riot at Cronulla, reprisal attacks led to one man being stabbed at nearby Woolooware and more than 100 cars badly damaged in a rampage through eastern suburbs beach Maroubra.
Police today set up a task force and will study video footage and photos to try to identify offenders in the mob, which they say included white supremacists.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said he also was considering establishing street squads and implementing alcohol restrictions to prevent further problems.


Community leaders from Cronulla and from Australian-Lebanese community groups met Mr Moroney and NSW Premier Morris Iemma today and vowed to restore harmony.

But tonight, Sydney was braced for more violence, with reports that text messages were circulating within the Arabic community calling for revenge attacks against Cronulla locals, including this Sunday.

Police squads including the air wing and mounted officers were on alert tonight and police said they were prepared for any new outbreak of violence.

"We are keeping a watching brief – we will only say that we have sufficient resources deployed to deal with any contingency," said a spokesman.

Mr Iemma said further charges were expected to be laid as a result of the violence, using video and photo evidence to track down offenders who had shown the "ugly face of racism in Australia".

He announced Strike Force Seta had been set up to track down the instigators of yesterday's race riot.

"There is no way that this sort of behaviour, this disgraceful and cowardly behaviour, will be tolerated anywhere," Mr Iemma said.

"Strike Force Seta will be there to pursue a criminal investigation ... examining videotape information, other information that may come to hand, photographic information to bring to justice those that are were responsible for the incitement, those that conducted other activities on the weekend," he said.
"That's (the purpose of) the establishment of the strike force."


Police Minister Carl Scully said white supremacists were among those who had taken part in the Cronulla riots.

"There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society, those sort of characters belong in Berlin 1930s," he said.

"I'm horrified that amidst that large crowd were pretty much people who have pretty ugly views."

Mr Moroney and Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin, a Sutherland Shire resident, said the riots were among the most violent they had ever seen.

"We have witnessed this weekend amongst the worst violence that I have ever seen in my policing service of 40 years," Mr Moroney told reporters.
"Never in my working life did I ever imagine a mob, a drunken mob, turning on a woman, an innocent woman who happened to stray into their path."

Mr Moroney denied his officers had taken a "softly, softly approach" to crowd control or that they had miscalculated the level of anger in Cronulla, which bore the brunt of the trouble.

Mr Iemma also defended authorities' preparations, saying no more could have been done.
"They had the resources there ... the resources deployed with the riot equipment, the back-up, the dog squad, the mounted police, Polair, maritime police and up to 150 police and they performed outstandingly," Mr Iemma said.

[Anarch]

Note: I saw an overhead shot by helecopter of the people at Lakemba mosque five minutes ago, on Channel 10, there were thousands of Aussies (confirmed), considering the news reporter said 'a mass of people were waiting outside the Mosque to attack those inside'...


Monday December 12, 10:00 PM


Police block potential riots in Sydney

Cricket bats, rocks and lengths of steel have been confiscated by police amid threats of further race violence in Sydney's east.

About 30 police seized the potential weapons from a park area in Maroubra, the scene of retaliation attacks that followed a day of violence in the southern Sydney beach area of Cronulla on Sunday. [NOTE: Maroubra was attacked by Lebanese. About 150 of them smashed up cars last night.]

A crowd of up to 100 people had gathered near Maroubra beach earlier on Monday but had largely dispersed by nightfall.

Superintendent Phil Rogerson from Maroubra police said so far it had been "very quiet".

"But we're prepared," he told AAP.

"We took possession of a number of cricket bats, rocks and bits of steel secreted around the park since about 3pm this afternoon."

He also said police would be taking possession of a stockpile of bricks left near a shop.

Supt Rogerson said there were "sufficient" police patrolling the streets opposite Maroubra beach and more in Broadarrow Reserve and adjoining parks if needed.

He said police also were worried about violence flaring up in Coogee and Bondi, and were keeping a close eye on the situation.

At Lakemba in Sydney's south-west, a crowd of about 500 mostly Muslim men gathered outside the Lakemba Mosque after rumours of an attack on the building.

One man said the crowd had gathered as a show of force.

Police blocked off the street 200 metres either side of the building and a police helicopter hovered overhead.

There were reports a camera crew had been set upon while covering the gathering outside the mosque but police said no one was injured in the incident.

The crowd began to disperse without incident about 9.30pm.

Police said as the crowd left the mosque, rocks were thrown at officers standing nearby on the corner of Lakemba Street and Wangee Road.

No one was reported to be injured in the incident and more police rushed to the scene.

[Anarch]

Brief summary that I typed up on Skadi about other events I've heard on TV:


According to what I just saw on Channel 10, a pack of 'youths' ganged up on a woman and she's been stabbed, 150 Lebo's went on a riot in another southern suburb of Sydney and destroyed a few hundred cars, and the NSW cops in Sydney are stretched the limit trying to keep another 'angry mob' from beating the crap out of Muslims as they emerge from inside Lakemba mosque in south west Sydney.

EDIT: 70 car loads of dune coons drove to Cornulla to start more shit too.

All this is confirmed from a friend in Sydney.

[Crowley]

Mars bless the Aussies. :)

[Ace Rimmer]

This disorderly, rampaging mob of rioting, drunken fools should be dealt with in the same manner that any other rioting mob should be dealt with, but is not.

They should be brutally beaten and dispersed by phalanxes of State Police wielding truncheons and tear gas.


we could re-institute the noble practice of duelling.

Indeed , the cowardly lynching mob mentality is despicable.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/national/1112_cronulla6_a.jpg

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/12/11/12cronulla_wideweb__470x415,0.jpg

[raven]

The attacks on both sides are quite disgusting. I can understand how the australians would want to assault the muslim gangs but this is more than just a bunch of angry whites fighting muslim gangs. Muslims started attacking innocent whites and now whites are attracking some muslims who have nothing to do with those initial attacks on whites. This is chaos. The only thing that will result from this is more people blaming the euro australians for racism. Why can't they all be men and settle this fairly (gang vs. gang) without the both of them being cowards? No attacking/raping women... no attacking innocent bystanders...get revenge the honourable way.

[Excorcism]

if it was in china, people would be gunned down by the military (recall Tiananmen Square). Attacks on both sides are just ugly, but I guess the people in Australia are just pissed off BIG TIME by what the Lebs did. From what I hear, Lebs form gangs and abuse peopel all the time for no damn reason. I would be fucking pissed off too

[Anarch]

Ugly messages in call to arms

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17548165^662,00.html

Luke McIlveen and Gemma Jones
13dec05

CHILLING new text messages inciting more violence were being traced by a police taskforce last night as Australia reeled at the nation's worst race riots.



Police were investigating a series of disturbing SMS messages calling on young Arabs to start another round of attacks at Sydney's Cronulla Beach next Sunday.
"All Arabs unite as one, we will never back down to anyone the aussie's (sic) will feel the full force of the arabs as one 'brothers in arms'," the SMS said.


A 5000-strong alcohol-fuelled mob, some waving flags and chanting racist slogans, chased and beat people of Middle Eastern appearance at Cronulla beach on Sunday afternoon.

Later in the night, a wave of violence spread to Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands, with two people stabbed and more than 100 cars badly damaged in apparent revenge attacks.

Thirty-one people were injured, including two ambulance officers and six police officers.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney condemned the violence as the worst he had seen in 40 years as a policeman.

"Never in my working life did I ever imagine a mob, a drunken mob, turning on a woman, an innocent woman who happened to stray into their path," he said.

As Sydney braced for more riots:

A POLICE strike force was set up to hunt down those responsible.

A TOTAL 16 people had been charged with 42 offences as of last night.

WHITE supremacists were blamed for inciting the riot.

PRIME Minister John Howard said the violence was sickening, but said he did not believe Australia was a racist nation.

Police were checking hospitals for a man with possible burns to his legs after an Australian flag was torn from an RSL club and set alight.

A witness said the man spat on the flag, then stomped and urinated on it before dousing it with lighter fluid and setting it on fire.

Two police officers described how they saved two young men from being murdered by the mob on Sunday afternoon.

Sgt Craig Campbell said he had no doubt two young men cowering inside a train at Cronulla railway station would have been killed if he had not held off the mob with his baton.

"If I hadn't made my way on to the train the way I did the two gentlemen inside would have received more substantial injuries, if not possibly have been deceased," he said.

Sen-Constable Gary Smith told of another terrifying incident and how two Middle Eastern youths thanked him for saving their lives.

"I was working my point and all of a sudden the crowd rushed at me," he said.

"The crowd surrounded one. I felt he was in grave danger. Once I got him in the police car, he thanked me for saving his life."

The riot was fuelled by racist text messages which began circulating following an attack on two Cronulla lifeguards last week, which locals blamed on Lebanese youths.

Maroubra surf group leader Koby Abberton met Lebanese community leader Keysar Trad last night in a bid to stop the violence.

"The events of the past two days have been extremely distressing and can't continue," said Abberton, of the Bra Boys.

"Everyone who comes to Maroubra Beach and is respectful of the locals is welcome, regardless of ethnicity."

The Bra Boys said they were not involved in Sunday's riots.

A full-time police riot squad will become operational in January -- but critics say it will be too late to deal with an anticipated running battle in Sydney's beachside suburbs in coming weeks.

Cronulla locals yesterday criticised what they described as a "softly-softly" approach by police.

Two bottle shops in Cronulla were asked to close their doors about 5pm on Sunday after the alcohol-fuelled violence had already peaked.

Youths wandered drunk with bottles of beer in alcohol-free zones without facing any police action.

Police Minister Carl Scully said white supremacists were involved in the Cronulla riots.

"There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society, those sort of characters belong in Berlin 1930s," he said.
Muslim youth spokesman Mustafa Kara-Ali, a member of the Federal Government's Muslim Community Reference Group, also blamed white supremacists.

[Anarch]

Sydney streets erupt again

From: AAP

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17551372-2,00.html
December 13, 2005

SEVEN people have been injured, cars and shops trashed, and rock and flares hurled at police in a second consecutive night of mob violence in Sydney.

Eleven men were arrested as a new wave of unrest hit the city overnight in apparent reprisal attacks for Sunday's race riot at Cronulla, where alcohol-fuelled mobs chased and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance.


The trouble began last night when a group of 200 mostly Muslim men gathered at Lakemba Mosque, in Sydney's south-west, apparently after rumours that an attack on the building was imminent.

Rocks and flares were thrown at police trying to disperse the group, and a female constable was injured when a projectile struck her leg.

Police were also hit with projectiles as a crowd of about 100 people gathered for a second night in Brighton-le-Sands, in Sydney's south.

Two police cars were damaged and rubbish bins were thrown at shopfronts as officers attempted to control the crowd.
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[Anarch]

Call in interstate cops: Debnam

From: AAP

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17551667-2,00.html
December 13, 2005


THE New South Wales Government must mobilise hundreds of police before sunset if it wants to prevent running gang warfare in Sydney, the Opposition said today.

NSW Opposition leader Peter Debnam said the Government should consider importing police from other states, if necessary, to stop more violence erupting.


"The government is simply pussyfooting around. What they need to do is mobilise hundreds of police," he said on ABC radio.

He said interstate police could be called in if NSW lacked the resources to properly control the violence.

"... but ensure the police force has the resources on the streets of Sydney today, before sunset, otherwise we're just going to have running gang warfare for the rest of the week."

Seven people were injured, cars and shops trashed and rock and flares hurled at police in a second consecutive night of mob violence in Sydney overnight.
[/URL] (http://thephora.net/forum/)[URL="http://thephora.net/forum/"]
Eleven men were arrested as unrest hit the city overnight in apparent reprisal attacks for Sunday's race riot at Cronulla, where alcohol-fuelled mobs chased and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance.

[Anarch]

NOTE: The inevitable 'oh they're poor repressed bastards it't not their fault...' bullshit comes out again.

Riot long time in making
Neil Wilson
13dec05

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17548297^662,00.html

CRONULLA'S riots mark an explosion of racial tensions and social deprivation that have been building for years.
http://www.news.com.au/newsicons/picture.gif Pictures (javascript:void(0))

The September 11 terror attacks, anger at the Bali bombings, and a series of gang rapes in 2000-02 were all factors in a build-up of community tension against Muslim Australians.


Police and former premier Bob Carr have pulled no punches in the past in identifying suspects as of Middle Eastern extraction, but the Islamic community felt that discriminated against all their youth.

"For the past decade we've had politicians in NSW playing the ethnic card, with various criminal activities in southwestern Sydney always sheeted home to the Lebanese," said Kaysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association.

"You have a lot of frustrated young people," he said. "The real unemployment rate here is over 30 per cent for them."

Many say those tensions have been heightened by allegedly inflammatory talkback sessions hosted by Sydney's radio shock jocks.

Mr Trad said a compliant had been made to the NSW and federal attorneys-general.

"Those people have some responsibility not to risk inviting further trouble by fanning the prejudices of racist callers," he said.

He said one talkback host had urged people to go to Cronulla on Sunday for a peaceful protest.

Sunday's trouble involved a violent backlash from some Anglo-Saxon locals against what they claimed were trouble-makers from the western suburbs, primarily Lebanese from Bankstown, Lakemba and Punchbowl.

But in the alcohol-fuelled vigilante action, anyone who appeared of Mediterranean ethnicity was set upon indiscriminately by the mob.

One man bashed was of Italian ancestry.

Cronulla has been a beach magnet for Sydney's western ethnic communities for decades. But tensions have risen in recent years as big groups of Lebanese youths have flocked to North Cronulla for the beach and to Brighton-le-Sands in Botany Bay.

At Maroubra beach, further north, a local gang called the Bra Boys warned Lebanese groups off with threats of violence.

It was their territory that 40 carloads of men from Sydney's west invaded on Sunday night as they staged revenge bashings and vandalism attacks.
The Sutherland Shire, including Cronulla, is largely an Anglo-Saxon area of Sydney.

Some Cronulla residents claim to be sick of "Muslim" interlopers taunting and abusing women in bikinis, assaulting their boyfriends, and claiming "ownership" of the beach.

Some Cronulla residents who joined Sunday's melee saw a recent attack on three lifesavers, allegedly by a group of Lebanese youths, as the last straw.

Sunday's gathering of 5000 people was organised with the aid of racist SMS invitations. The trouble started, as the messages promised, at noon at Cronulla.

"Aussies: This Sunday, every f---ing Aussie in the shire, get down the North Cronulla to help support Leb and Wog bashing day. Bring your mates down and let's show them that this is our beach and their (sic) never welcome back. F--- the Lebs/Wogs, lets (sic) kill the c----. Tell everyone to spread the word," one read.

The Patriotic Youth League, considered a neo-Nazi group, distributed posters at the rally and is being investigated over SMS messages.

Researcher Dr Michael Kennedy, a NSW police detective for 20 years, said Muslim Lebanese communities were closely grouped around the Lakemba Mosque, in the Bankstown area.

"We've found these have become ethnic islands, more so than in cities like Melbourne," he said.

"You've got a lot of young people who didn't go to Year 12, a lot who are finding it hard to find jobs, so they hang out with friends and extended family."

But he said all of Sydney's ethnic communities -- Egyptians, Greeks, Italians, Croats -- had all been lumped in together at Cronulla.

"To that crowd, everyone who didn't have white skin and an Australian flag was a Lebanese," he said.

Police had arranged with the local hotel not to sell alcohol, but locals reported seeing youths carrying slabs of beer, handing out cans.
Local federal MP Bruce Baird said that despite police showing a strong presence all week, they did not have the numbers on Sunday to control the crowd. He said the nearest main police station was 15km away.

But Dr Kennedy said the setting up of squads of police to blitz trouble-spots meant they were getting a heavy-handed reputation, which was alienating the public.

"You have groups of young, ethnic men who are floating. They're under-employed, they don't listen to news and they don't pay attention to tough talk from senior police or politicians," he said.
"If they feel they are getting harassed day to day by heavy-handed policing, then there's no way you will ever win any respect or obedience from them," he said.

[raven]

When the looting/rioting by blacks happened in New Orleans.... aww those poor blacks are held down. When the rioting in France by north african muslims (and some blacks) happened... aww those poor north africans weren't allowed to integrate properly. But then why is it that when an angry euro-australian mob breaks out its.... THOSE DAMN RACIST NAZI WHITE AUSTRALIANS!

See a pattern here folks? Those of european descent are demonized in all cases whether they are victims of crime or doing the crime themselves. This is a grave injustice. I certaintly do not condone the actions taken against the innocent lebanese muslims who suffered, however I don't condone the actions taken against the innocent australian victims as well. When will the double standard end? Cowardly actions should be universally condemned. Leave the innocent bystanders out of it... settle it gang vs. gang.

Btw how retarded can these mobsters be that they would mistake an Italian for someone who is Middle-Eastern?

[Anarch]

Joseph Lo Bianco, professor of Language and Literacy from the Melbourne University, has researched this kind of behaviour and the reasons behind it. He's talking about discourse, power and how it causes this stuff. Slightly interesting:

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200512/r67006_185365.asx (http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200512/r67006_185365.asx)

[raven]

Btw I just noticed this...
"But he said all of Sydney's ethnic communities -- Egyptians, Greeks, Italians, Croats -- had all been lumped in together at Cronulla."
Is this true? Are they purposely attacking Greeks, italians and Croats? I thought the term wog wasn't used to describe meds there anymore. Hmm.

[Anarch]

Btw I just noticed this...
"But he said all of Sydney's ethnic communities -- Egyptians, Greeks, Italians, Croats -- had all been lumped in together at Cronulla."
Is this true? Are they purposely attacking Greeks, italians and Croats? I thought the term wog wasn't used to describe meds there anymore. Hmm.

No.

OK. Basical Aussie definitions:

Wog - North Africans plus the middle easterners, also applied to the white trash of Greece and Italy. The Aussies involved aren't after Greeks and Italians, but you don't exactly stop and ask for ID. An unfortunate side effect.

Gook - East asians.

Curries - Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans.

Croats, Greeks and Italians would've been 'accidental victims'. If they were easier to distinguish (I'm not sure why Croats are thrown in, they look pretty close to Aussie to me?) they wouldn't have been attacked. Best advice for such people over there IMO is to stay away.

[Anarch]

A piece from CBS news which summarises what happened last night.
[/URL]

Rioters Smash Sydney Stores, Cars

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/12/world/printable1117094.shtml

SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 12, 2005 (AP) Youths riding around in vehicles bashed cars and smashed store windows in suburban Sydney late Monday, police said, as violence continued for a second night in a row.

A police spokesman said the rampage broke out in Cronulla, the same beach-side suburb where a night of race riots resulted in scores of arrests on Sunday, and in neighboring Caringbah.

"We have shops damaged at Caringbah, cars damaged at Cronulla," said Paul Bugden, spokesman for New South Wales police. "We have six arrests at this stage."

One person was apparently hit with a rock outside the Cronulla police station, he added, saying that youths riding around in cars were involved in the violence.

The Australian Associated Press news agency said gunshots were heard near Cronulla beach, but police could not confirm the report.

Bugden said he did not have descriptions of those involved in Monday night's violence, but said the rampage, which spilled over into the early hours of Tuesday morning, "obviously stems from the last 24-48 hours."

By around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, calm had returned to the suburbs targeted by the carloads of youths.

A resident of the suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands, Steven Dawson, said a bottle thrown through his apartment window showered his 5-month-old son with glass, but did not hurt the child.

"That bottle could have killed him," Dawson said.

Horst Dreizner said a car was rammed through the front doors of his denture store, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.

He said he feared the violence would escalate.

"Personally, I think it is only the beginning," he said in a telephone interview.

Australian Associated Press, citing a resident who declined to be named, said men riding in up to 50 cars and wielding baseball bats converged on Cronulla, smashing cars. Ambulances were called to help at least one injured man seen lying on the side of the road.

Earlier Monday, Prime Minister John Howard condemned [U]Sunday's violence (http://www.cbsnews.com/), but said he does not believe Australian society has an undercurrent of racism.

"I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said.

Sunday's fighting left 31 people injured, including police and paramedics. One was hospitalized after being stabbed in the back by a man police said was Arab in appearance. There were 16 arrests.

"What we have seen yesterday is something I thought I would never see in Australia and perhaps we have not seen in Australia in any of our life times, and that is a mass call to violence based on race," Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian told Sky News.

New South Wales state police chief Ken Moroney called Sunday's rioting among "the worst violence that I have ever seen in my policing service of 40 years."

The state's political leader, Morris Iemma, said police would hunt down the instigators of the violence, which authorities said was fanned by neo-Nazis.

"There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society," Police Minister Carl Scully said. "Those sort of characters belong in Berlin (in the) 1930s."

The violence shocked Sydney, a city of 4 million that prides itself on being a largely harmonious cultural melting pot.

One government lawmaker, Bruce Baird, said anti-Muslim resentment that has risen since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 88 Australians also played a role.

Local residents say there have been frequent minor racially charged confrontations on Cronulla beach, but never anything close to the scale of Sunday's unrest.

Cronulla is easily accessible by train and often is visited by youngsters, many of Middle Eastern ethnicity, from the poorer suburbs of western and southern Sydney.

Residents accuse the visitors of traveling in gangs, being disrespectful and sometimes intimidating other beach-goers. That escalated when two men believed to be of Arab descent attacked two volunteer lifeguards last week, sparking a flurry of mobile phone text messages calling for retaliation.

[raven]

No.

OK. Basical Aussie definitions:

Wog - North Africans plus the middle easterners, also applied to the white trash of Greece and Italy. The Aussies involved aren't after Greeks and Italians, but you don't exactly stop and ask for ID. An unfortunate side effect.

Gook - East asians.

Curries - Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans.

Croats, Greeks and Italians would've been 'accidental victims'. If they were easier to distinguish (I'm not sure why Croats are thrown in, they look pretty close to Aussie to me?) they wouldn't have been attacked. Best advice for such people over there IMO is to stay away.

Oh ok. I find it odd they couldn't tell that an Italian isn't middle-eastern. Olive Skinned Italians don't look like Middle-Easterners. These mobs. :rolleyes: That said everyone should stay the hell away from there. Didn't you guys get warnings before about this?

[Anarch]

Oh ok. I find it odd they couldn't tell that an Italian isn't middle-eastern. Olive Skinned Italians don't look like Middle-Easterners. These mobs. :rolleyes: That said everyone should stay the hell away from there. Didn't you guys get warnings before about this?

Shadier south Italians can look vaguely similar to Lebo's at times. About the warnings, it's like telling two packs of wolves to stay away from each other 'coz someone's gonna get hurt'. The warnings happened but they're pretty much useless.

[Excorcism]

This is one of the reasons why the Aussie's have had enough....can you really blame them? Such bullshit would enrage the hell out of me. Not to forget to mention the damn gangs. What kind of cuked up bullshit is that?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/sep2002/rape-s06.shtml

[raven]

Yep I read about that subhuman rodent who got 55 but then had it reduced to 28 with a chance for parole after 22 years. In Canada I bet he would have got 10 and would be out in 5 years.

[Excorcism]

Yep I read about that subhuman rodent who got 55 but then had it reduced to 28 with a chance for parole after 22 years. In Canada I bet he would have got 10 and would be out in 5 years.

he got it reduced? that's a crock of shit. How the hell did he do that? what? was he saying that she was asking for it and the judge believed his dumbass?

[raven]

he got it reduced? that's a crock of shit. How the hell did he do that? what? was he saying that she was asking for it and the judge believed his dumbass?
Yep the bastard got it reduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_gang_rapes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Skafbilal.jpg
Just look at that punk.

[Excorcism]

Yep the bastard got it reduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_gang_rapes

....holy shit that's fucking disgusting. :mad:

Alright, fuck it. If they are going to act fucking dispicable like that, I could fucking care less if they get beaten the shit out of. The only unfortunate thing with riots is they hit some of the innocent as well. I just wish they would fucking raid the neighborhoods and go in the homes of these fucking criminals. THAT would be justice.

God damnit, this reminds me of the fucking Whichita murders.

[raven]

....holy shit that's fucking disgusting. :mad:

Alright, fuck it. If they are going to act fucking dispicable like that, I could fucking care less if they get beaten the shit out of. The only unfortunate thing with riots is they hit some of the innocent as well. I just wish they would fucking raid the neighborhoods and go in the homes of these fucking criminals. THAT would be justice.
The australian police should concentrate their efforts on bringing the innocent to safety and then just letting the euro-australian mobs and muslim gangs go at it.

[Excorcism]

The australian police should concentrate their efforts on bringing the innocent to safety and then just letting the euro-australian mobs and muslim gangs go at it.

If that situation was to ever occur, I'll root for the Aussies....but I would want them to be sober so they can aim a little better.

[Anarch]

Yep the bastard got it reduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_gang_rapes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Skafbilal.jpg
Just look at that punk.

Should've been hung, drawn and quartered :mad:

[raven]

Should've been hung, drawn and quartered :mad:
Would you happen to know why these muslim gangs are such a nuisance in Australia but yet in Canada they haven't been a real threat to us? I don't understand it. Muslims make up a bit more than 2% here and I'd imagine it's about the same down under. The UK is at about 2.7% (+ some illegals I'm sure) and they have problems too obviously (gangs too, london attacks). Why are us Canadians the lucky ones out of the Commonwealth? :D

[Excorcism]

Would you happen to know why these muslim gangs are such a nuisance in Australia but yet in Canada they haven't been a real threat to us? I don't understand it. Muslims make up a bit more than 2% here and I'd imagine it's about the same down under. The UK is at about 2.7% (+ some illegals I'm sure) and they have problems too obviously (gangs too, london attacks). Why are us Canadians the lucky ones out of the Commonwealth? :D

depends on what group you have I guess and what the cultural norms are in that group. Muslims can range form alot of different cultures, so I guess you have to luck out.

[Anarch]

Would you happen to know why these muslim gangs are such a nuisance in Australia but yet in Canada they haven't been a real threat to us? I don't understand it. Muslims make up a bit more than 2% here and I'd imagine it's about the same down under. The UK is at about 2.7% (+ some illegals I'm sure) and they have problems too obviously (gangs too, london attacks). Why are us Canadians the lucky ones out of the Commonwealth? :D

The French Canadians have effeminised even the Muslims. That's how severely limp-wristed they are. ;)

[raven]

depends on what group you have I guess and what the cultural norms are in that group. Muslims can range form alot of different cultures, so I guess you have to luck out.
I think over here the majority of muslims are Pakistani. Then you have some arab and a tiny minority of white muslims (mostly bosniaks.. I encountered like 1 guy from Kosovo though I shouldn't assume he's muslim. :D) I also noticed the muslims here for whatever reason tend to (though obviously not all) actually work hard which is a big contrast to their work ethic in France, Sweden, Australia and England. However some dudes are still dodgy. I have mentioned before (on another forum) that I knew a guy who had a family whom killed his aunt back in pakistan for marrying a non-muslim. And I have been threatened by another pakistani (whom I was an acquaintance with) who said he would burn my house down. But he was just a punk speaking empty words anyway.

But yeah thankfully they have behaved themselves generally over here thus far. (There was however an incident in the late 80s with one guy of algerian descent who killed 14 women in Montreal though they never mentioned his background in the media then apparently)

Lucifer, the French-Canadians are also quite a small minority where I live so they can't be a factor. :D

[Anarch]

Lucifer, the French-Canadians are also quite a small minority where I live so they can't be a factor. :D

Rubbish. To paraphrase General Jack D. Ripper of Dr Strangelove, "I can no longer sit back and allow French infiltration, French indoctrination, French subversion and the international French conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." :D

More news.

Race attacks spread to Perth, Adelaide

December 13, 2005 - 6:42PM

Attacks on a Middle Eastern family in Perth and a Lebanese Australian taxidriver in Adelaide have been linked to Sydney's race violence.

In an alarming sign Sydney's race-fuelled problems may be spreading, a family of Middle Eastern origin was attacked in Perth by a group of 11 Caucasian men, who threw eggs, shouted abuse and kicked the garage door.

The 42-year-old father of the Kewdale family, who does not want to be identified, said his family was badly shaken by last night's incident.

"I don't know if we were mistakenly identified," he told ABC Radio.

"What I definitely know is it was something linked to the escalation in NSW."

Perth police Superintendent Shayne Maines said police could not rule out a link between the attack and the racial violence in Sydney.

"There was some suggestion they did make ethnically-related comments to the occupant of the house," Mr Maines said.

"We can't rule it out until the investigation is complete, but this is obviously a very emotional issue."

Western Australia's Premier Geoff Gallop described the attack as an unacceptable act of bigotry.

"These incidents do occur from time to time in our community and they're unacceptable," he said.

In Adelaide, a taxidriver of Lebanese origin, Hossein Kazemi, was injured when punched by a passenger during an incident at suburban Gilberton today.

"There was some sort of discrepancy and argument over the fare," a South Australian Police spokesman said.

"Apparently during the assault, the victim, because he was of Lebanese origin, was taunted about the stuff in Sydney and Cronulla beach."

The taxidriver later said the incident had marred his view of Australia as a tolerant society.

"I believed Australia is a free country, (it) is the best country in the world but now, I see that (it) is highly racist here," Mr Kazemi told the Seven Network.

Police said a 29-year-old man from Unanderra, in NSW, had been charged with assault following the incident.

Another man, believed to be a second passenger in the taxi, was charged with hindering police.

Meanwhile, Islamic Council of Victoria offices in west Melbourne have been vandalised for the second time in a month.

A brick was thrown through the front window of the building.

"We understand that it's not something that's accepted by the broader society and we do get a lot of emails and calls and letters of support at times like this as well," the council's Waleed Ali told ABC radio.

Islamic Council of Victoria chairman Malcom (Malcom) Thomas said he believed yesterday's attack was linked to race violence in Sydney.

"What seems to be the pattern is when an event happens overseas there is a spike in this sort of thing. And yes I believe this is in relation to the events in Sydney," he told AAP.

"Really a retaliatory action to what happened in Sydney on the weekend I think."

AAP

[Anarch]

This is true, but it won't matter I think.

Lock up your sons, Lebanese mothers told

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/lock-up-your-sons-lebanese-mothers-told/2005/12/13/1134236032237.html
By Edmund Tadros
December 13, 2005 - 9:44AM

Mothers of young Lebanese men involved - or tempted to get involved - in the tit-for-tat violence engulfing Sydney's beachside suburbs will be urged to "lovingly" lock up their sons at home this weekend.

"I think it's time now that the mothers really use all their discipline skills to keep their sons at home this weekend," said Silma Ihram, Principal of Noor Al Houda Islamic College in Strathfield.

"Let's call on the young men in our community to calm down, to cool down and refrain from any further violence."

Ms Ihram said mothers were central figures in Lebanese families and had the authority and respect required to control their sons.

"In the Lebanese community, mothers are regarded as far more influential on their sons than fathers are," she said.

Mothers are seen as "above their sons", said Eman Dandan, from the Lebanese Muslim Association.

"In Islam, paradise lies at the feet of your mother, so to disobey your mother is to disobey God,'' Ms Dandan said

"The intention is you should not place yourself above your mother in any way.

"The mother is there for emotional discipline so it is very difficult for a son to disobey the mother because of this role," she said.

Ms Ihram will spend the morning organising a joint statement with other female Lebanese leaders in the community and then promote their "lock-up" idea through Arabic media and radio.

"If there's a united call for it and the mothers come out as a group, they do have the ability to exercise control over their sons," she said.

"It's not easy, but mothers are a huge force in a Lebanese - [both] Muslim and Christian - young man's life.

"It's time for our mothers to pull off the velvet glove."

But while mothers have the moral authority in Muslim families, it is difficult for them to enforce it in Australia.

"Mums can admonish children, but the problem we have in an Australian context is that once a child reaches legal age they can make their own choices and they are well aware of their rights,'' said Shujat Mantoo, secretary of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

"So the mothers do not have the ultimate power to stop their children from doing something in a Western country.''

In a Middle Eastern country, families would be able to exercise greater control over their children, he said.

"It's all relative - in Australia the children have greater power than they do in Middle Eastern countries,'' Mr Mantoo said.

[Anarch]

Emergency powers to stop riots


http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/emergency-powers-to-stop-riots/2005/12/13/1134236033030.html?page=fullpage



http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/12/13/gal1_wideweb__470x313,0.jpg


The smashed shop front of a denture clinic in Carringbah that was rammed with a car.
Photo: Andrew Meares



December 13, 2005 - 8:01PM

If you saw last night's violence or were victims or participants, contact us at newsdesk (newsdesk@smh.com.au).
-------------------------------------------
An emergency session of NSW parliament will give Sydney police tough new powers to crack down on racial and mob violence, amid signs the city's race tensions are spreading to other states.

A massive force of 450 highly-mobile police also patrolled Sydney streets tonight to try to prevent a third successive night of violence following Sunday's Cronulla race riot.

Eight people were injured last night as groups of Middle Eastern men in fast-moving convoys of cars roamed southern Sydney suburbs, trashing vehicles and shop fronts.

In Maroubra, gangs last night collected rocks and petrol bombs as they prepared to defend the beachside suburb.

Today, with Australia's and Sydney's reputation for racial tolerance under threat, the NSW government moved to end the spiralling violence.

An emergency session of parliament on Thursday will give police powers not seen since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"These criminals have declared war on our society and we are not going to let them win," said Premier Morris Iemma, who said the criminals had brought "shame" to Sydney.

Under the laws, police will be able to lock down parts of Sydney and search and confiscate vehicles - measures aimed at ending night-time "smash and bash" raids by carloads of young Middle Eastern men.

"We're dealing with an unprecedented situation the likes we haven't seen in Australia before, with this type of racial tension and these types of series of smash and bash attacks across multiple fronts," NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin said today.

Under thenew measures, police will have the power to:

- declare lock-down zones
- confiscate vehicles
- shut down licensed premises
- impose temporary alcohol-free zones
- remove the presumption of bail for the offences of riot and disorder

- increase the penalty for riot by five years to 15 years in jail
- double the penalty for affray to 10 years in jail.

Powers to shut down licensed premises and impose temporary alcohol-free zones will also be aimed at avoiding a repeat of Sunday's drunken riot at Cronulla beach, when anyone of Middle Eastern appearance was chased and bashed.


The NSW opposition will support the new laws.

"I won't allow Sydney's reputation as a tolerant, vibrant international city to be tarnished by these ratbags and criminals who want to engage in the sort of behaviour we've seen in the last 48 hours," Mr Iemma said.

It's hoped the new powers will prevent a feared resurgence of violence at Cronulla on Sunday, inspired by a new wave of text messages.

However, tensions show no sign of abating, with Islamic leader Fadi Abdul Rahman saying Muslim youths are angry that police appear to be treating them more harshly than "Anglos".

Last night bullets were fired at teachers' cars after men of Middle Eastern appearance abused parents and children at a school carols service in the multicultural Sydney suburb of Auburn, said Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell.

Tonight there were also alarming signs racial tensions were spreading to other states.

An attack on a Middle Eastern family in Perth and on a Lebanese Australian taxi driver in Adelaide were linked to the Sydney tensions.

The Islamic Council of Victoria said vandalism of its Melbourne offices was retaliation for the Sydney violence.

And on the Gold Coast, mobile phone text messages targeting ethnic groups have called for people to attend a demonstration on Sunday and to start "cracking skulls".

Prime Minister John Howard denied the race-fuelled violence would damage Australia's reputation.

But Labor's Kevin Rudd declared: "Blind Freddy can tell you this is having an impact on Australia's international standing - that's just the truth."

Tonight, NSW police more than quadrupled the number of officers
patrolling Sydney.

Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said patrol numbers would be boosted from 100 to 450 tonight to discourage further violence before new laws come into force at the end of the week.

Violence flared for a second night last night as fast moving convoys of vehicles targeted areas of Sutherland Shire, Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands.

Eight people, including three police officers, were injured as the mob wielded baseball bats, golf clubs, steel poles, machetes and axe handles, in what NSW Police Minister Carl Scully labelled "guerilla-type tactics".

Shop, house and car windows were smashed as the gangs tore through seaside areas attacking anyone in their path.

A couple suffered facial and head injuries when they were attacked at a restaurant in Caringbah, while a man sustained fractured ribs and head injuries while taking out garbage bins at his Cronulla home.


Signalling an escalation both in the method and planning of the violence, police said they had seized crates of rocks and Molotov cocktails placed on rooftops in Maroubra.

Five people were charged today with offences including assault, affray, driving in a dangerous manner and malicious damage resulting from last night's actions.

Amid the tensions, there was one good sign in Sydney today as two rival gangs - Maroubra's Bra Boys surfer gang and the Comancheros bikies gang - vowed to stay out of the violence.

Bid to broker peace deal

Lebanese Muslim leader Keysar Trad and members of Maroubra's surfer gang, the Bra Boys, held talks today to broker a peace deal between rival groups.

"They [the Bra Boys] expressed their outrage at what happened at Cronulla and they expressed their support and appreciation for the Middle Eastern community,'' Mr Trad said.

The Lebanese community also condemned the violence, Mr Trad said.

Bra Boys member and top surfer Koby Abberton labelled Sunday's riots at Cronulla "cowardly''.

"I was upset being Australian on that day,'' he told the Nine Network.
However Islamic leader Fadi Abdul Rahman suggested further trouble could be brewing, saying Muslim youths felt angry that police were not treating them fairly.

"They feel they have been dealt with by the authorities differently to the way Anglos have been dealt with,'' he told the Seven Network.
"They feel injustice and they feel angry about it.''

Howard plays down racial aspect
Prime Minister John Howard again played down the racial aspect to the Sydney clashes, saying they were primarily a law and order issue.

"I don't think we should over-complicate this,'' he said.

"Violence, thuggery, loutish behaviour, smashing peoples' property, intimidating people - all of those things are breaches of the law and I don't think the actions should be given some kind of special ... status because they occur against the background of this or that.

"If we start treating this behaviour for what it is we will far more readily settle things down and get back to a situation we all want.''

Mr Howard again said he did not think Australia was a racist country and said the mob violence would have no long-term effect on Australia's international reputation.

AAP

[Anarch]

The hordes came with guns and iron bars
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-hordes-came-with-guns-and-iron-bars/2005/12/13/1134236010815.html
By Richard Macey
December 13, 2005 - 1:10AM

They arrived with guns and iron bars to the Cronulla 7-Eleven. It was 10.45pm and the manager, Hearmohan Singh, was terrified.

"I saw about 100 cars," Mr Singh told the Herald. "They were going towards the beach."

To his horror, many of the cars came to a halt outside. "At least 50 to 60 boys started coming towards the store," he said. "They had guns and iron bars. I see two with the guns. I was scared, man. I ran into the store and locked it.

"They had their faces masked and were running towards the store. I was really scared."

Mr Singh was certain they were about to attack his store when, just as suddenly, police arrived. "The police were everywhere. At least 10 police cars were outside the store ... they came with the dog squad."

He said as soon as the police pulled up the young men, aged from about 16 to 25, fled back to their cars and drove off. A customer told him that he had been run over by one of the mob's cars. "He was injured, but not badly ... he was just crossing the road."

Mr Singh said he was a Sikh and had been abused in the past by people who mistook him for a Arab because of his beard.

"The police have saved Cronulla from hundreds of thousands of dollars damage," he said.

At Brighton-le-Sands, a resident, Craig Donaldson, said: "I moved my car off the street and then immediately after that maybe one or two carloads arrived. They were milling around the service station. One person set off a fire extinguisher. Then half a dozen more cars arrived and they were throwing rocks at apartments along Bruce Street and smashing cars. Then they all got in and left within five minutes and then after that the police arrived."

The scene was repeated in hit-and-run raids on several southern suburbs.

[raven]

The only people who are going to win from all this are the minorities (not those assaulted but as a group). Those of european descent will be disgraced in the media even more and they're gonna brand Australia as a racist nation. :mad: These damn mobsters are being fools. If you've had enough this isn't the way to settle things. They can't even get their targets right? Mistaking a Sikh owning a 7/11 for an arab? :rolleyes: Mistaking an italian for an arab? :confused:

Sad, very sad. Lucifer, I feel very sorry for you Anglo-Celts over there. You're all going to be demonized to hell after this whole ordeal thanks to the mob. :( I can hear it now from the media, "Is Australia racist?! You bet it is! They are all a bunch of neo-nazi white supremicists! *throthing at the mouth like good old rabid 'antifas'*."

[daisy]

I'll root for the AussiesGod be with you Aussies!
__

[raven]

On the plus side for you aussies, immigration will surely decrease now. Though I guess it depends how the system works. The number of applicants will probably decrease (since now they think Australia is racist) but maybe the numbers actually getting in will stay the same. It depends how it works.

[Atlas]

England, France, Australia and perhaps soon Los Angeles, some gangs threatened to riots if Tookie was executed, and he has been today.

[raven]

Yikes. There better not be another LA Riot. I don't know how anyone can look at all of these riots and keep telling themselves that mass multi-culturalism is a beautiful thing. When you have large amounts of different groups together in one area things will get ugly. You have to bring in small doses and spread them out or else they'll never integrate. Not to mention that the total numbers of immigration have to be cut down anyway. And when it comes to many of the blacks in the United States... they have been in the US for generations and they still fail to integrate in society. Whereas while many muslims in France, Australia, etc. fail to integrate when they should, they are mostly first (many immigrate when they are young) or second-generation (born there).

However I'm a second-generation Canadian myself and I see no excuse for a second-generation french/aussie of arab descent not to integrate into society as I have. They may say "its because you have the privileage of having white skin" but I call bs on that. My parents, aunts, uncles and older brother were treated like dirt and they paid their dues when they came here. I know I wasn't in their shoes myself but neither are the second-generation muslims. And even then the non-white immigrants these days haven't had the hardships that european immigrants had 30 years ago. Not even close. In the west you are way more likely to be ostracized for being racist than being of a different race. These kids are not "oppressed" because of their race or religion but because of the consquences of their behaviour. If they don't like it they are welcome to go back to the Middle-East to see how much better it is there than the west. :p

[Count Eustace II]

Haven't the Australian White folk realized that "Diversity Is Strength"?????

Like "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength"??

Why can't the Aussie's act like good Americans and submit to the Will of NWO??

Resistance is Futile.

[raven]

Here is an interesting comparison for you guys. I'm sure many of you are aware of Malmo, Sweden's problems? In a documentary they apparently claim that about 1/4 of the population there is muslim and their population has 250,000 inhabitants. However this might be an inflation (or not). I have seen other figures such as 45,000 which is still large. Now let's compare a place like Malmo with my city of residence.

Malmo, Sweden
Population: 250,000
Muslims: 45,000 - 62,500 (thats 25% of the city)

My city
Population: 695,000
Muslims: About 6.9% (approximately 48,000)

So my city which is almost three times bigger than Malmo has either around the same amount of muslims or maybe even less! :222: And I'd imagine that over there in Australia you guys have muslim communities similar to Malmo right? See the difference? And my city of residence is probably one of the more premier muslim dominated cities in all of Canada since it tends to be a popular suburb for immigrants. (we house almost 8% of Canada's muslims) I think this is probably why Canada is having much less problems. We spread out the muslims more while in France, Australia, Sweden and England they cluster them into big communities. *knocks on wood so that I don't speak too early and nothing happens over here*

[Jimbo Gomez]

That only makes the problem less visible. They are no less harmful to your way of life, they just find it a wee bit harder to find accomplices for their crimes there.

[raven]

More Info on the sydney gang rapes for some background.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_gang_rapes_in_2000

The Sydney gang rapes were a series of five separate crimes involving rape which occurred in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The first four occurred in the southern hemisphere winter of 2000, and the fifth in 2002. The common thread in these cases was that the perpetrators were gangs of young males of Muslim background (Lebanese in the first four cases, Pakistanis in the fifth), while the victims were females of European descent. The perpetrators were alleged to have made racist comments against their victims in the course of the offences, leading some to categorise them as hate crimes. During the trial the text messages of one of the offenders, Bilal Skaf, were disclosed as containing sentiments such as "When you are feeling down ... bash a Christian or Catholic and lift up".

Actions taken by government ministers, including the then Premier of New South Wales, Bob Carr, who publicly identified the perpetrators' background, led to a great deal of controversy. Community groups complained that Carr was smearing the entire Lebanese Muslim community with the crimes of a few of its members, and that his public comments would stir up ethnic hatred.

The separate gang rapes were, in chronological order:

August 10, 2000 - Two females aged 17 and 18 accepted a lift from Chatswood, lured by the offer of marijuana. They were taken to Northcote Park, Greenacre, where they were forced to perform oral sex on eight males.

August 12, 2000 - Another victim was raped at gunpoint by two males at Gosling Park, Greenacre, having been lured there by one of the rapists, who was an acquaintance. She escaped before she could be raped by another twelve males waiting their turn.

August 30, 2000 - A woman, named C at the trial (she later revealed her identity on the 60 Minutes television program) was lured from a train at Bankstown by the promise of marijuana. She was then raped at three separate locations by 14 males over a period of six hours. As a final humiliation they hosed her down with water. The teenager raped on August 30 was called an "Aussie pig", told she would be raped "Leb-style" and asked "does Leb cock taste better than Aussie cock?" by three of her assailants.

September 4, 2000 - Two 16 year old females were lured from Beverly Hills train station to a house in Lakemba, where they were raped by three males over a period of four hours.

July 28, 2002 - Five males, four of whom were brothers, lured, threatened with knives and bullets and sexually assaulted two girls, aged 16 and 17, at one of the brothers' houses in Ashfield. One of the victims was told that the other had been killed because she had resisted orders. The rapists have had their names suppressed and in news reports have only been referred to as MMK, MRK, MSK, MAK and RS.
Bilal Skaf, sentenced to 55 years
Enlarge
Bilal Skaf, sentenced to 55 years

Other rapes were attempted, but were not carried out. The West Australian ("Reign of terror by mobile phone and the promise of a smoke", July 31, 2002) reports that a 14-year old girl was approached by four males on a train on August 4, 2000, but she escaped before she could be harmed. One of the attackers was quoted as saying on his mobile phone, "I've got a slut with me bro, come to Punchbowl."

The public uproar caused by the gang rapes led to the passage of new legislation through the Parliament of New South Wales, dramatically increasing the sentences for gang rapists by creating a new category of crime known as aggravated sexual assault in company [1]. Also in the course of one of the trials, the defendants refused counsel claiming that all lawyers were against Muslims. This led to the contentious prospect of the defendants being able to cross examine the witnesses themselves, a situation that was averted by further legislation being put through the New South Wales parliament [2].

The first court case heard under the new sentencing regime concerned the gang rapes of two young women in Ashfield on July 28, 2002. The four brothers received a total of 70 years' imprisonment. In late 2004, three of the brothers involved in the rape appealed against their sentences but had them rejected in November, 2005. The fourth brother is continuing his sentence while the fifth rapist, RS, has since committed suicide. [3]

Bilal Skaf, ring leader of the August 30 gang rape, was sentenced to a total of 55 years' imprisonment. On September 16, 2005, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal reduced Skaf's 55 year sentence to a maximum of 28 years, with parole available after 22 years. Bilal Skaf will now be eligible for release on February 11, 2023.

Bilal's younger brother, Mohammed Skaf, was also jailed for 32 years for his role in the gang rapes but also had his sentence later reduced to 19 years with a non-parole period of 11 years.

Three other gang rapists, Belal Hajeid, Mohammed Sanoussi, and a man known only as H, also had their sentences reduced.

Sanoussi's brother Mahmoud Sanoussi and another man, Mahmoud Chami, both lost their appeals on their sentences.

As well as for those directly involved, the crimes have had an impact on the wider community, heightening tensions and misunderstanding between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians.

More info on that punk ass gang rapist leader talked about earlier.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_Skaf
Bilal Skaf (born 14 September 1981) was the leader of the group involved in one of the Sydney gang rapes that terrorised Sydney in 2000. For his crime he is serving a 28-year prison sentence, with a non-parole period of 22 years. (He was originally sentenced to 55-years with a 40-year non-parole period, but that was reduced upon appeal -- see below.) He commenced his sentence in Sydney's Long Bay Jail (also known as Long Bay Correctional Centre), but was soon moved to maximum security in Goulburn Gaol after prison wardens uncovered plans by fellow inmates to inject him with HIV infected blood.

Skaf's parents Baria and Mustapha migrated from Lebanon to Australia and Mustapha worked for State Rail in Sydney, gaining a good reputation among his colleagues. It was through his father's reputation that Skaf also found work for State Rail despite having left school at age 14 and gaining convictions for shoplifting and theft.

Skaf was engaged at the time of his arrest but although his fiancee stood by him during his trial, she ended their engagement soon after his conviction. Skaf's response was to sketch cartoons depicting his former fiancee being raped and murdered. Since he was first charged in November 2000, Skaf has remained unrepentant. During his trial he claimed he was involved only in cases of consensual sex, laughed when his verdict was read and swore at the judge when he received his sentence. In jail he has made threats to commit acts of terrorism.

On September 16, 2005, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal reduced Skaf's 55 year sentence to a maximum of 28 years, with parole available after 22 years. The NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus, has indicated that the government will consider seeking leave for an appeal to the High Court of Australia against the sentence reduction. An earlier appeal had already reduced his sentence to 46 years, after a successful appeal against one of his convictions. He is currently awaiting retrial on that count.

Why are scum like him allowed to be breathing air? It's amazing to see the contrast between first-generation lebanese muslim immigrants and those that came here young/the second-generation that were born in Australia. How do you go from hard-working parents to lazy, good for nothing anti-social scum for children? It seems to me that the younger generation of muslims are the trouble makers. The older generations are more likely to behave. In the United States I am certain they would have put him on death row.

[Anarch]

The only people who are going to win from all this are the minorities (not those assaulted but as a group). Those of european descent will be disgraced in the media even more and they're gonna brand Australia as a racist nation. :mad: These damn mobsters are being fools. If you've had enough this isn't the way to settle things. They can't even get their targets right? Mistaking a Sikh owning a 7/11 for an arab? :rolleyes: Mistaking an italian for an arab? :confused:

South Italians, sicilians, can be as dark as lighter-skinned Lebanese. It happens. If the whites rioting gave a damn about Australia being called racist, it wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Sad, very sad. Lucifer, I feel very sorry for you Anglo-Celts over there. You're all going to be demonized to hell after this whole ordeal thanks to the mob. :( I can hear it now from the media, "Is Australia racist?! You bet it is! They are all a bunch of neo-nazi white supremicists! *throthing at the mouth like good old rabid 'antifas'*."

We don't have much in the way of antifas over here, just PC indoctrinated folks in the institutions. It'll be fine. Anyone with a pair of eyes in their head and a brain behind it will know they weren't neo-Nazis. There were no swastikas, no heil hitlers, just Aussie flags and ethnic patriotism.

[Anarch]

Uneasy calm in Sydney suburbs

Australian lawmakers poised to pass new laws after racial unrest


Tuesday, December 13, 2005; Posted: 6:24 p.m. EST (23:24 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/13/australia.racial.unrest.ap/index.html

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Attacks linked to two nights of race rioting in Sydney were reported in two other Australian cities Tuesday, but an uneasy calm returned to the streets of Sydney.

As rain fell Tuesday night, hundreds of police converged on the beachside suburb of Cronulla and stopped and searched dozens of cars.

But there were no arrests reported and no repeat of the previous night's rampage in which dozens of cars full of young men of Middle Eastern appearance smashed store windows and cars in apparent retaliation for a race riot on Sunday in which 5,000 white men chanted racial slurs and attacked youths they believed were of Lebanese descent.

Lebanese community leader Keysar Trad criticized the violence, which was triggered by the beating by men who reportedly were Lebanese of two volunteer surf life savers.

"We have always condemned the ... violence or anti-social behavior on the beaches or anywhere else," Trad told television's Channel Nine.

He later held talks with members of a surf gang called the Bra Boys in Maroubra, one of the beach suburbs hit by violence, and said they were an example how Australians of different ethnic groups can mix at Sydney's beaches.

"They expressed their outrage at what happened at Cronulla and they expressed their support and appreciation for the Middle Eastern community," Trad said.

"They have many friends who are from a Lebanese and Middle Eastern background and of various religions, so they want peace."

Anger towards groups of young Lebanese men in Sydney that erupted Sunday has been simmering for years, particularly since a horrific gang rape case in 2002.

At a trial in Sydney, prosecutors and witnesses said members of a Lebanese gang hurled racial abuse at their rape victims, all of whom were white. The ring leader, Bilal Skaf, was sentenced to 55 years, an unusually severe sentence in Australia.

"The rapes have had a significant impact in terms of race relations in Sydney," said Professor Chris Culleen, director of the Institute of Criminology at Sydney University.

Tens of thousands of people of Lebanese descent, about 60 percent of them Christians, live in Sydney, mostly in a cluster of lower income neighborhoods close to the city's Olympic sports complex.

Most of them work, although often in low-paid jobs, but some are conspicuous success stories -- New South Wales state's Governor, Dr. Marie Bashir, comes from a Lebanese family. The governor holds a largely ceremonial role as local representative of Britain's monarch.

In one of the suburbs, Auburn, the main shopping strip features halal butcheries and Arabic video stores, but also Christmas decorations.

Walking down an Auburn street, Ayten Tugcu, who was born in Australia in a Turkish family, condemned all involved in the fighting.

"I think it is pathetic," she said. "I think both sides are really wrong."

However, she admitted that she sometimes feels intimidated walking through parts of Sydney because wearing her Muslim headscarf makes her a target for abuse.

"I get scared to go out," she said.

Tensions between youths of Arabic and Middle Eastern descent and white Australians also have been fueled by anti-Muslim sentiment stemming from the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States and deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in October 2002. Six of the Bali victims were from Cronulla.

In an attempt to keep the peace, lawmakers will meet Thursday to pass laws giving officers tough new powers to crack down on rioters, including ordering bars to shut and erecting road blocks to effectively seal off suburbs, New South Wales state leader Morris Iemma announced.

Iemma said he would urge lawmakers to pass legislation increasing prison sentences for riot offenses from five to 15 years and double the penalty for affray to 10 years.

He said the rioters had "effectively declared war on our society and we won't be found wanting in our response."
Violence spreads to other cities

Meanwhile, attacks on a Middle Eastern family in the Western Australian state capital Perth and a Lebanese Australian taxi driver in Adelaide in South Australia state were linked to Sydney's race violence.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reported Tuesday that a family of Middle Eastern origin was attacked in Perth by a group of 11 white men, who threw eggs, shouted abuse and kicked their garage door.

The 42-year-old father, who did not want to be identified, said his family was badly shaken by Monday night's incident.

"What I definitely know is it was something linked to the escalation in New South Wales," he said.

Perth police Superintendent Shayne Maines said police could not rule out a link between the attack and the racial violence in Sydney.

"There was some suggestion they did make ethnically related comments to the occupant of the house," Maines said.

In Adelaide, a taxi driver of Lebanese origin, Hossein Kazemi, was injured when punched by a passenger during an incident Tuesday. Police said he also was taunted about the Sydney violence during the attack.

And on the Gold Coast in Queensland state, text messages targeting ethnic groups have called for people to attend a demonstration on Sunday and to start "cracking skulls," Australian Associated Press reported.

About 300,000 Muslims live in Australia, the majority in lower income suburbs of large cities.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press (http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP). All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.0/misc/clickability.time.gif

[Anarch]

Driver bashed by group of men
December 14, 2005 - 8:04AM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/driver-bashed-by-group-of-men/2005/12/14/1134500880176.html

A motorist was bashed with a baseball bat and five people were arrested as hundreds of police hit Sydney's streets overnight to restore calm.

More than 450 officers were on patrol in flashpoint suburbs in the city's south and west after they were hit by violence sparked by Sunday's race riot at Cronulla beach.

NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin said there were no "smash and bash" raids and no confrontations with police overnight.

It was not known if a fire that destroyed a Uniting Church at Auburn, in Sydney's inner west, early today was linked to recent violence in at least four Sydney suburbs, he said.

But police are treating the blaze at the church, which is near an Islamic centre, as suspicious.

Police said a motorist suffered cuts to his hand after being attacked by a group of men, one armed with a baseball bat, at Ryde in Sydney's north about 1.15am (AEDT) today.

Among the five people arrested overnight was a 31-year-old man carrying a knuckleduster, handcuffs and fireworks on Cronulla Rd, Cronulla, about 9.30pm.

He was later charged with having custody of an offensive implement.

A second man, aged in his 20s, and allegedly carrying a knife, was also arrested at Cronulla. He was issued with an infringement notice for the offence.

Police later arrested two 22-year-old men in Bay Street, at Brighton, in Sydney's south, about 11pm.

One man allegedly carrying a glass breaking tool was charged with possessing an offensive implement and the second was charged over a traffic matter.

A 23-year-old man was also arrested for traffic offences at Moore Park, in Sydney's east.

Mr Goodwin said calm had prevailed in all suburbs after two consecutive nights of violence.

"I have been shocked and disgusted at the recent incidents of violence by some members of the public," he said.

"The police have conducted a formidable operation overnight ensuring the safety and security of those in beachside suburbs where there has been so much animosity."

Mr Goodwin said the high-profile police operation would continue.
AAP

[Anarch]

Once upon a time, Anthony Mundine was a decent boxer.

Mundine weighs into race debate
December 14, 2005 - 9:32AM


Australia's leaders are cowards who will not confront the disease of racism, boxer Anthony Mundine says.

Mundine, who is a Muslim and Aboriginal, said today that Prime Minister John Howard was wrong if he did not accept there was underlying racism in Australia.

Following two days of violence around Sydney, Mr Howard said yesterday he believed the riots and vandalism were more of a law and order issue.
Mundine said: "I believe we have problems within society and racism is one of them problems, it's a bad disease.

"I believe we've got leaders that are cowards.

"They are in denial and will not confront the issues and confront the problems that we have with society and to make comments like the leader (Mr Howard) has said, it's really got me dumbfounded."

Mundine told the Nine Network it was up to "great leaders" in the community to stay positive and do positive things.

The cultural and religious divides between different communities in Australia were not too vast to overcome.

"I think people shouldn't be condemned because of their colour or creed, they should be judged on their deeds and their positive ways to their fellow man, their actions," Mundine said.

"We can live together, we can work together but it's a matter of letting your actions speak louder than your words."

Mundine blamed racism for the hostile reaction of a crowd after he left the boxing ring in Perth on Sunday.

Mundine was booed and had bottles thrown at him after fellow boxer Danny Green worked up a home crowd.

But Mundine said the reaction was caused by a few "bad apples" in the crowd and common Australian people were "great people".
AAPqc

[Anarch]

Bats, rods, bars, fists … it's out of control
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/13/1134236063919.html?page=2
By Jordan Baker and Andrew Stevenson
December 14, 2005

THE rioters had moved on to Lakemba and their rampaging was confined to the late news for John Castles until he got up from the couch to take in the view from his Cronulla balcony.

What he saw petrified him. "All of them were coming down the Kingsway."
Dozens of vehicles clogged the street. Men stood on parked cars, shouting, bashing windows with baseball bats. "It was out of control," Mr Castles said. "They were going on a rampage."

Three men jumped on his car's roof and smashed windows with an iron bar. "They were saying, 'We'll be back Sunday. Come out and fight us'," he said.

A second wave of unrest following Sunday's race rioting began on Monday afternoon at Maroubra Beach. Police seized baseball bats, golf clubs, steel poles, machetes and axe handles, and crates of rocks and Molotov cocktails that had been placed on rooftops. Five local men were arrested and released.

A few hours later, more than 200 of their opponents gathered at a mosque in Lakemba. Some were preparing to head to Maroubra. Others said they were defending the mosque.

Police brought that situation under control after a few hours, but at 10pm a convoy of dozens of cars, their occupants apparently intent on retribution for the weekend's violence against people of Middle Eastern appearance, arrived in Sutherland Shire.

They travelled via Hurstville, rather than originating from that suburb, as reports indicated on Monday night. At Caringbah, some attacked a couple dining at a pizzeria. The woman suffered head injuries. Her husband tried to rescue her but was assaulted.

A man who had just returned from a North Coast fishing trip was set upon by up to 30 men on Kingsway. "There were bats, rods, bars, fists," he said.

He suffered a fractured arm and bruises to his face and legs but was not interested in revenge. "I just want it to stop." Two more men were attacked, one as he put out his garbage bins.

The cars turned into Elouera Road. Michael Head and his sister Suzanne were finishing a birthday dinner with a friend soon after 11pm when vehicles pulled up outside their unit block.

More than a dozen men leapt out of a van and jumped on their cars, smashing the windows with baseball bats. Through a megaphone, they challenged residents to come out and face them. Those inside turned off the lights and hid behind the blinds. None had been involved in Sunday's violence, they said.

"I was shocked. I was standing there thinking this is not happening," Mr Head said. "There were fireworks going off, which we thought were god knows what," Ms Head said. "Where are the Aussies with their flags at 10pm on Monday? Probably at home nursing a hangover."

The convoy moved on to the Elouera Road shops. There the front windows of the newsagency were smashed, shattering glass across the floor.

Windows were also broken at the dry-cleaning business. Ann Harvey, the manager, lives around the corner. She heard glass smashing and gunshots. She took a call from her 80-year-old neighbour, who was petrified.

Another resident, Adrian, 26, said he was outside a friend's house when a car stopped next to him. A man jumped out and took a swing at him with a baseball bat, but missed. "Everyone is just waiting for the drive by [shooting]," his friend Jade said.

Joel Austin, 28, heard shouting, screams and burnouts in his street in Miranda. "We just grabbed anything, baseball bats and kitchen knifes, and went out," he said. A first group of marauders left without damage. A second arrived when Mr Austin was standing on the Boulevarde.

"As soon as they saw me they said, 'Die, you Aussie dog. We're going to kill you'," he said. The young men, bearing baseball bats with spikes and 60 centimetre machete's chased Mr Austin off the street. He waited in his backyard protected by two dogs and the weapons he had gathered.

"There would have been at least 30 guys came sprinting at me, just ready to rip me apart. I've never been so scared. I was just waiting, thinking this is it. If they weren't going to kill me, they were going to give me an absolute flogging."

The mob left, scared away by a Ford Falcon that was reversed towards them at speed.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

It so seems that the massive police patrols have calmed Sydney down now.

[Anarch]

It so seems that the massive police patrols have calmed Sydney down now.
'Now now, don't be hasty'
- Treebeard, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Wait until the weekend comes. A cop stated on TV that 'rain is my friend', regarding the relative lack of violence last night.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

I bet there will be a bazillion cops on the streets on that weekend.

[Anarch]

There'll be four bazillion whites and three bazillion Lebo's ;)

[Ambrosio Spinola]

I cross my fingers but I would not be so optimistic.

[Felix the Cat]

Lucifer, in general terms, what's the ethnic makeup of your local area like?

Is there any danger of similar disturbances close to you?

[raven]

In the end what has been profited from this folks? The gangs are still out there on the loose. This mob was pointless thus far and it has quieted down so I guess it'll stay that way. But I hope that those leb gangs will get what's coming to them eventually.

[Anarch]

In the end what has been profited from this folks? The gangs are still out there on the loose. This mob was pointless thus far and it has quieted down so I guess it'll stay that way. But I hope that those leb gangs will get what's coming to them eventually.

What's been accomplished? I suppose not much for the moment - except now far more people are suspicious of Sydney's Lebo's than before, it's certainly become a political issue.

[Anarch]

Lebo's did something else rather stupid.

Smouldering suspicion as a community mourns its hall
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/smouldering-suspicion-as-a-community-mourns-its-hall/2005/12/14/1134500916776.html
By Jordan Baker
December 15, 2005


SIX-YEAR-OLD Brina went to sleep thinking about her Sunday school Christmas party and graduation at the church hall, where there would be games, singing and, most importantly, presents.

Yesterday morning she was in tears. Overnight, the hall - the centre of Auburn's Tongan community - burned to the ground in an attack that may have been linked to Sydney's racial violence.

"Why would they do it?" said Sunday school teacher Unga Takai. "It's the kids that will suffer. Right before Christmas."

Fire fighters were called to the blaze about 1.30am, after smoke triggered alarms at the Al-Faisal Islamic College next door. The fire spread rapidly; "within 15 minutes it was all over."

Four men were seen near the Harold Wood Uniting Church before the blaze broke out. A handful of rocks were inside the fence. At a nearby Anglican church, 10 windows were smashed.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, said there "may be" a link to the rioting. But the church's minister, Glenys Biddle, said she felt that was "an overreaction to the situation". Police are treating the fire as suspicious.

At daylight, shocked residents and members of the Tongan community gazed at the smouldering ruins of their hall, where they'd held wedding receptions, parties, choir practice and dances.

"We use our hall more than we use our church," said Emeline Java, 22, who has been a member of the church for 10 years. "We usually do our celebrating [there]."

The principal of Al-Faisal Islamic College, Ghazwa Adra Khan, was just as shocked. The school and church were close neighbours; Al-Faisal used the hall during its renovations.

Mrs Khan condemned the violence and offered to help any way she could.
"We are really very sad," she said. "How has this happened to them? This should never happen. Our country should be safe and secure. We have been together for many years. It's like best friends."

Members of the Tongan community fear they have been caught up in a problem that had nothing to do with them. Lydia Kupa, who lives next door, said she felt sad, shocked and angry. "Why us? It's got nothing to do with us."

Mr Takai accepts "it is probably not against Tongans".
However, residents with a Lebanese background, whether Christian or Muslim, are worried. A 15-year-old Muslim boy was woken by the fire at 2am. "I'm getting scared, like it is maybe going to happen around our house."

Another neighbour, who refused to be named for safety reasons, said she was with her children singing Christmas carols at St Joseph the Worker Primary School on Monday when gunshots were fired outside.

"Now this is happening to the church, it's just too much. I walk the children to school now. They were scared that Monday night. You don't feel safe. I just don't know how it got to this point."

The Sunday school party will be moved to another venue.

[Anarch]

One surfer apologised on behalf of all of them. I guess we'll see how the numbers turn out on the weekend... ;)

Surfers say sorry, condemn violence

December 15, 2005

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/surfers-say-sorry-condemn-violence/2005/12/14/1134500916782.html


CRONULLA surfers have apologised for their role in Sunday's race riots, saying they were ashamed by the violence and vowed not to allow a repeat.

Shire surfer Brad Whittaker released the written apology last night after two days of talks between senior members of the beach's surfing community and representatives of Sydney's Lebanese community.

The statement said the surfers unequivocally rejected any form of racism and was accompanied by apologies written by younger surfers who took part in the riots.

"The day began as a show of solidarity against the behaviour of ethnic gangs who have been harassing the public on our beaches over a period of several years," the statement said.

"It escalated out of control under the influence of right wing racists, from outside this community, and alcohol.

"As senior members of Cronulla's surfing community, we will be doing everything within our power to ensure there is no repeat of Sunday's violence and we would expect those of influence in the wider community, including the Islamic community, to do the same.

"The beach is for all to use and enjoy, with everyone showing respect and consideration for each other. Our sincere hope is that some good can come out of this unfortunate episode, with all groups within our society displaying more tolerance and greater willingness to engage each other as Australians."

NRL players Hazem El Masri and Jason Stevens yesterday joined forces to condemn last weekend's violence.

El Masri, the Bulldogs' goal-kicking superstar with a Lebanese background, has been coming to Cronulla with his family for 20 years.

"Both ends are in the wrong," he told the Ten network yesterday.

"It's a public beach, it's open for everybody, but by the same token you've got to respect others and respect yourself and that's the best way to go about it."

Stevens, a Cronulla local and ex-Shark, said:
"It's obviously hard seeing it, being in the place that you live and the place that you love."

[Anarch]

Ebus, yeah, I don't think a bazillion cops matters anymore...

I'm a police officer - and I am scared
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17560765-5001030,00.html

This open letter, from an anonymous police officer, was being distributed to locals in Cronulla yesterday

December 14, 2005

I AM a NSW police officer with more than 17 years' experience and I tell you that I am scared.


I am scared to do my job and I don't blame the community for taking the law into their own hands.

In the late '80s when I first joined the police force, I saw how the old school police did things. I agree there was corruption and things had to change, but what the Government, judicial system and ultimately society did to the police force was just disgraceful.

In days gone by, if there was a group of hoodlums hanging around intimidating people outside a pub, two 6'2" burly coppers would turn up in a big F100 truck.

The way they spoke, their stature, respect and how they dealt with these hoodlums gave them real power and not some weak piece of legislation given to them by some reactionary Government.


If these hoodlums hadn't already run off because they knew what was coming, they would cop a flogging, a kick up the bum, a slap over the head. The young kids were afraid of the police and that's how we controlled and protected the community.

Fear is the only thing a young male understands. That real power is now lost forever.

Let's look at how the new police force would handle the same job.
Firstly, we changed our name to a "service" because it was aggressive to use the word "force". We send two small female officers, wearing silly little yellow caps.

If we want to move these thugs out of the area, we have a very strict procedure we must follow. We have to announce our name and place of duty. The thug laughs and starts calling us by our first name.

We have to tell them why they have to move on. We have to warn them that if they fail to move on, they may be arrested.

If there is more than one thug, we have to do this to each one.

They tell us they don't speak English, start stating their rights and call their friends by mobile phone to come to the location.

The process we have just started doesn't work with a drunk who wants to argue - it just makes it more confusing.

We have to make detailed notes of the conversation and caution them not to say or do anything in case it incriminates them.

Each time we use a power, we have to tell the hoodlum what it is and why we are doing it.

From the very outset, they have the upper hand and it continues. They have the real power ... we have pretend power.

If we do decide to arrest them, we have to be so careful not to grab their arms too hard or wrestle them to the ground because it may graze their legs or rip their jeans.

The thugs will allege we damaged their phones, took $50 from their wallets, swore at them, put the handcuffs on too tight.

When they get back to the police station, they complain to a supervisor who now starts to investigate us.

The whole charging process takes hours in a run-down police station with computers that don't work.

So we charge them with offensive language, assault police, resist arrest and put them before the court.

A local magistrate is presiding over the matter. After 30 minutes in court, the charges are dismissed and the recommendations made that the police should be charged with assault and sent to jail for six months.

We are told we should expect to be sworn at, called a pig and stood over by thugs.

The complaint and civil action lingers on for 18 months as it goes from the Ombudsman to ICAC and PIC. The thug has got off the charges, winks his eye and smiles at me as he walks out of court.

That's the justice that we have that goes on every day in many local courts in NSW.

Can you see why I am scared?

Do you think I am going to arrest someone, come next Friday or Saturday night, with all that rubbish going on?

I am going to take my time getting to the job, hope the thugs leave before I arrive and stand there and take the abuse. I hear my commanders saying we will uphold the law to the letter. Easy for them to say, but it just doesn't happen.

If we were fair dinkum, we would have hundreds of arrests and charges every day.

Have a look at the promotion system. Junior police being promoted in front of other senior police with 20 years' experience, because they can answer a question in an interview better.

Everyone is looking after themselves. We are no longer a team versus the thugs. It is me alone versus police management versus the thugs.

You have seen the quality of our senior police leaders. They wouldn't last long in private enterprise.

After the stuff-ups of the Redfern riot - an absolute disgrace in operational policing - we heard senior police say "we will learn from this".

Not a year later, Macquarie Fields. The same mistakes and stuff-ups.

Listen to the commissioner as he talks. It is all reactionary policing.

Why didn't Intel pick this up earlier? Why weren't measures put in place earlier? Because the problems have been going on for years.

The police out there have poor morale, equipment and training. We aren't united as a team - everyone has their own agenda and we are scared.

We have the weak, ambiguous powers the Government says we have to have and a judicial system that just defies logic.
I totally understand why young men feel they have to take the law into their own hands. I don't trust, and have very little loyalty in, the police service and the court system.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

I guess that was about it then...

[Felix the Cat]

Now churches are targeted (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17572776%255E601,00.html)

FOUR churches in Sydney's southwest have been attacked in 24 hours as the city's riots spread from race to religion.

A community hall linked to a Uniting church was burned to the ground early yesterday, carol-singers were spat on and church buildings peppered with gunfire.

In response, members of the Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities have called for a curfew for all Lebanese youths over the weekend.

Police believe the attack on the hall, in the suburb of Auburn, was intended to destroy the Uniting church next door, while nearby StThomas's Anglican Church, which has a primarily Chinese congregation, had all its front windows smashed. Three of the attacks were on churches within minutes of each other. The night before, Molotov cocktails were used in an attack on an Anglican church in Macquarie Fields in the city's far southwest.

Arab Christians have suggested the attacks on churches may have been meant as a violent attempt to "shame" the city's Lebanese Christian community into supporting Lebanese Muslims in the race-hate war, which began as a battle against young white males over use of suburban beaches.

Community leaders said Lebanese youths should not venture out after 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and should stay home all day on Sunday.

"Those who violate the curfew will be doing so in defiance of their faith, of the law and their community leaders. We are all united in opposing violence," Lebanese Muslim Association leader Ahmad Kamaledine said.

Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen welcomed the call for a curfew. "We must remember that it is first of all in the home that we learn to respect and care for others," he said.

"So I trust that all parents will join these community leaders in encouraging their own young people to exhibit mature and thoughtful respect for other people at all times."

Despite the call for a curfew, the state Government, police, community and religious leaders were bracing for a violent clash between opposing ethnic groups over the weekend.

The church attacks prompted NSW Premier Morris Iemma to yesterday assign extra police to monitor places of worship.

Mr Iemma said police would pay special attention to churches, schools and church halls. "We have to be on guard for this, and these hooligans and criminals will not destroy the fabric of our society," he said.

A heavy police presence was again ordered last night as the suburb of Cronulla - the scene of race-related violence on Sunday - began a second night of lock-down and police roadblocks.

During a tour of the command post set up in the Sydney Police Centre to co-ordinate the crisis, Deputy Commissioner Andrew Scipione told Mr Iemma the situation was being treated as if it were a terror attack.

"We are running the same command and control centre as we would for a terrorist situation," Mr Scipione said.

Elsewhere in Sydney, two men were attacked in separate incidents by men wielding bats and golf clubs and asking their victims if they were Australian.

Steve Stanton, a spokesman for the Maronite Catholic Church in Australia, said he thought the shooting outside a carol service in South Auburn on Monday night was the responsibility of a "very small minority" of fanatics within the wider Muslim community.

"There is also a view that it will have been done with a view to shaming the Lebanese for not standing united," he said.

Amjad Mehboob, head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said he believed the violence had been committed by an extremist fringe of the Muslim community. "I wish we knew who they were. I wish we could engage with them so we can find out what their beliefs are, so we can deal with them," he said.

"This is something that started out as a minor scuffle between some youths and a couple of life-savers that has suddenly become an issue of racism and religion. Buildings can be rebuilt, but the damage this is doing to our community is extremely deep."

Reverend Glenys Biddle, of the Uniting church in Auburn, said the destroyed hall had been a important part of the local Tongan community. "For them, they have lost not only a physical building but a sense of fellowship," she said. "A lot of memories have also been lost for Anglos, Tongans and people of all sorts of cultures."

Shafiq Khan, the principal of the al-Faisal College next door, said Christians and Muslims had always worked amicably, and the fire - coupled with the fear it may promote - was a loss for both religions. "This is a crime against peace, the community and the country; a crime against harmony and against our children, who used the hall," he said.

Television and sporting celebrities and leaders from Sutherland Shire and the Islamic community will hold a meeting this morning, brokered by local MP Bruce Baird, to try to settle their differences.

[Felix the Cat]

(Should we create an Aus/NZ subforum for these stories?)

[Anarch]

Police get the power
December 15, 2005 - 3:57PM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/police-get-the-power/2005/12/15/1134500952647.html

Laws giving NSW police more power to crack down on unrest have been passed by NSW parliament.

Both houses of parliament were recalled from their summer recess today to pass the laws, which will be given the royal assent today by Governor Marie Bashir.

The emergency legislation was introduced following this weeks race riots in Sydney's south west.

Police can now lock down areas of unrest.

They can seize cars and mobile telephones for up to seven days, search people and cars in locked-down areas and demand identification.

They will also be given the power to close licensed premises and to declare alcohol-free zones.

Amendments to the Crimes Act increase the maximum sentence for rioting from 10 years to 15 years and the maximum sentence for affray will be doubled to 10 years.

A new offence of assault during a public disorder will carry maximum penalties of five years' jail for assault not causing actual bodily harm, and seven years' for actual bodily harm.

Eleven people were arrested overnight, as more than 450 officers again patrolled Sydney's streets to counter the threat of more "smash and bash" attacks.

Assistant Police Commissioner Dave Owens said groups of men of Middle Eastern appearance were involved some assaults.

But the attacks appeared to be random and there was nothing to suggest any organised link between them, he said.

Meanwhile, police are calling for calm following reports of text messages calling for retaliatory strikes this weekend at Brighton, in Sydney's south, at Terrigal, on the NSW central coast, and in Newcastle, north of Sydney.

There will be another community meeting today involving the federal Member for Cook Bruce Baird, the president of the Lebanese Muslim Association Ahmad Kamaledine, police and representatives of surf and rugby league clubs.

Mr Kamaledine told the ABC he expected the meeting would have a meaningful impact.

"This problem can only escalate if we ignore it and we only be able to achieve good outcomes if we work collectively," he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney has urged people of goodwill to bring back the spirit of Christmas following violence in Sydney.

"The spirit of Christmas has simply disappeared out of this city and it is up to all of us, not only the police, but people of goodwill, to bring the spirit of Christmas back into this city," Mr Moroney told reporters.

Mr Moroney said an extra 1,000 police would be on duty on Saturday and an extra 1,500 on Sunday to prevent further outbreaks of violence.

He urged people to go about their normal end-of-year activities this weekend, including going to the beach.

"There's no restriction on going to the beach," he said.

"There are certainly legal restrictions if you are going to engage in unlawful conduct, riotous behaviour, assault malicious damage or whatever the case may be."
- AAP

[Anarch]

The race question
By Connie Levett Herald Correspondent in Kuala Lumpur and agencies
December 15, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/the-race-question/2005/12/14/1134500916422.html?page=2

THE race riots have captured official attention in Asia, with the Prime Minister revealing that regional leaders quizzed him on the wave of violence on Sydney's streets.

John Howard said the issue had been raised "informally" by the leaders prior to the first East Asia Summit, at which Australia is pushing for a stronger regional presence.

The Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is also understood to have raised the issue in a separate ASEAN forum involving leaders from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

A Japanese official quoted Mr Abdullah, the ASEAN chairman, as saying: "Racial and religious conflicts are difficult issues but we must solve them."
In the cautious language of regional diplomacy, this constitutes very real interest in and concern about the Sydney violence.

Despite the eyebrow-raising, Mr Howard insisted that the riots, which threaten to erupt again this weekend, would not damage Australia's reputation internationally and were primarily a law and order issue.

However, he was directly contradicted by the Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, who has sharpened his criticism of the Cronulla riots and retaliation which followed.

Mr Howard said the riots had been raised informally over drinks before the leaders' dinner but he did not expect it to be raised in formal meetings and it would not tarnish his visit.

ASEAN has a policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of member countries.

"Incidents like this that don't play well around the world can happen in any country," Mr Howard said before attending the 16-nation summit. "It was mentioned informally, yes, a few people asked about it. We chatted about it over a drink before dinner."

Mr Howard said the violence was primarily a breach of the law but it was too early to say what lessons could be learned.

"I hope things will settle down and when they have settled down is the time to think about the reasons they have occurred," he said. "We should never lose sight of the fact that primarily what happened was a group of people broke the law the previous weekend when they assaulted two lifesavers - that people break the law whenever they harass people in shopping centres and streets in any part of our country.

"They break the law when they harass children and parents attending a carol service, as apparently occurred the night before last in Lakemba."

Having initially attributed the trouble as "simply criminal behaviour - that's all there is to it", Mr Beazley said yesterday "there's no doubt there's a racist element here".

"I don't think Australia is a racist country," Mr Beazley said. "I don't think we are at all. We gloried in our multiculturalism, our multi-racialism as we won the Sydney Olympics."

But racism was evident in the involvement of neo-Nazis "among some of those associated with the gangs" and "those fomenting an anti-Anglo type of attitude".

The situation on Sydney streets remains tense with the Premier, Morris Iemma, saying the massive police presence would be extended to cover places of worship. This follows an arson attack on an Auburn church hall that Mr Iemma said could be linked to racial unrest.

About 450 police will patrol Sydney's flashpoint suburbs following the race riot at Cronulla on Sunday and two nights of retaliatory "smash-and-bash" attacks in Maroubra, Cronulla and Brighton-le-Sands.

Police have described the unrest, in which dozens of people were injured and many others arrested, as the worst violence seen in Australia. In a desperate attempt to avert further trouble, Arab Christian, Arab Muslim and community organisations have called for a weekend curfew.

Ahmad Kamaleddine, president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, said: "Those who violate the curfew will be doing so in defiance of their faith, of the [holy] law, and their community leaders. We are all united in opposing violence."

A task force of more than 60 community groups will also take to the streets to counsel young Lebanese men and teens in a bid to avert more racial violence this weekend. Lebanese mothers will also be asked to use their influence and "lovingly" lock up their sons at home this weekend to keep them out of trouble.

Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid, said earlier this week the race riots in Australia showed there was extremism not only in Muslim and Arab communities, but he did not think it made Australia less appropriate to be a member of the East Asia Summit process.

"[Extremism] can exist in any community, in any religion, so what we need to do is to create understanding, create respect that we are living in a very diverse world," he said. "We should take advantage of our diversity rather than develop bias and prejudice that people who are different from you must not be part of your country."

[Anarch]

I kinda pity the New South Welshmen for having to listen to an airhead politician like this one. My point is underlined.


'Tell bashers you're an Aussie'
Jonathan Porter
December 15, 2005
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17572768%255E601,00.html



NSW Premier Morris Iemma has called on people not to renounce their Australian identity in the face of intimidation by Lebanese gangs - even if it means being bashed.

His advice came after victims of rioting in Sydney told how they were asked if they were Australian before being attacked by large groups of Middle Eastern men.

Mr Iemma said that if approached, people should say: "I'm Australian and this is Australia and this is a country that is here to be shared by all. "(We are) Australian and proud of it and they're not going to - with baseball bats or with those kind of questions - change the response they get."

He said if he were approached by such a gang he would say he was "proudly Australian", even if it meant being attacked.

Mr Iemma also warned troublemakers that a 500-strong anti-riot squad would be in place over summer to deal with the violence.

"These people have effectively declared war on our society and the values that we hold dear to our hearts, and their behaviour will not be tolerated," he said. "Force will be met with force."

His comments came after NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said tough new police powers to be rubber-stamped with Coalition support in parliament today did "not go far enough".

Trumpeting his new laws, Mr Iemma on Tuesday said rioters' cars would be confiscated.

But Mr Debnam said he had been told at a private briefing with government officials that instead of being confiscated, cars would be impounded only for seven days. "Seven days is an inconvenience, not a punishment. The cars should be sold," Mr Debnam told The Australian.
But he said the Coalition would support the laws.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully said the police presence would be increased this weekend, as SMS messages encouraging more violence circulated last night.

Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said text messages urging violence were "a form of terrorism". But he said whole SMS networks could not be shut down, as they were used by emergency services.

The police response to the riots came under the spotlight last night when it emerged that officers were ordered to stay away from a gathering of Lebanese men in Sydney's west on Monday.

The Seven Network said a police incident report instructed officers to stay clear of Punchbowl Park, from where gangs later travelled to the riot hotspot of Cronulla.

Superintendent John Richardson denied the allegations.
"We received information that cars had started to gather at Punchbowl Park. A car crew was sent and reported back that there were 10 cars and approximately 40 men there," he said. "There were no offences being committed and the car crew was ordered to withdraw and observe from afar. There was no trouble and sending police in would only cause trouble."

[Anarch]

19 arrested in Sydney unrest
AAP
16 December 2005
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17586084^662,00.html

ARMED with new powers, a police task force has arrested 19 people in a night of unrest in Sydney in which an elderly man was bashed with a crowbar, a molotov cocktail was thrown at police and one officer was injured in a brawl.


The arrests were made by officers attached to Operation Seta, created following a race riot at North Cronulla Beach in Sydney's south on Sunday and days of retaliatory attacks.

A molotov cocktail was thrown at police in "a disturbing incident" at Dickens Rd, Ambarvale, south west of Sydney, about 10pm, he said.
"Police conducted a search of the area and located a number of other incendiary devices and what appeared to be stockpiled stones," Mr Owens said.

Although no arrests were made over that incident, two men, aged 24 and 23, were charged with making explosives with intent ot injure after police found seven molotov cocktails in a Cronulla unit, about 6pm.

A 46-year-old man was also charged with common assault after an elderly man was bashed with a crowbar by a group of men at Riverwood in Sydney's south west about 7pm.

Police were also called to shopping centres at Marrickville, Castle Hill and Newcastle where crowds of men had gathered.

They were dispersed without incident, but a police officer was injured as he broke up a brawl at a shopping centre in Wetherill Park about 8.30pm.
An 18-year-old man was charged with a range of offences including two counts of assaulting a police officer.

Shortly before 10.30pm, police were also called to a fast food outlet at Parramatta where 23 car loads of men in a carpark were threatening patrons with baseball bats.

A 22-year-old man was arrested after he was allegedly found with a hammer and screwdriver.

He was charged with possessing offensive weapons.

Two other men, aged 19 and 25, were also arrested about 6pm as they tried to drive into Cronulla "to help the cause", Mr Owens said.
They were charged with a range of offences including driving a stolen car and drug possession.

Police say they are continuing preparations for the weekend in case of more violence.

Police numbers will more than double from the 450 last weekend to 1000 on Saturday and 1500 on Sunday.

NSW Parliament passed the Law Enforcement Legislation Public Safety Act 2005, giving police increased powers to lock down some suburbs, close pubs, enforce alcohol bans and confiscate cars.
Premier Morris Iemma recalled parliament from its summer break after rioters attacked people of Middle Eastern descent at Cronulla on Sunday, and members of Sydney's Lebanese community carried out apparent retaliatory attacks on Sunday and Monday nights.

[Anarch]

Beaches no-go zones, warn police
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/beaches-nogo-zones-warn-police/2005/12/16/1134703597549.html
December 16, 2005 - 7:30PM

Some of Australia's most famous beaches will be no-go zones this weekend after NSW police received credible threats of gang violence in the wake of Sydney's race riot.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney today urged people to stay away from beaches in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast because of fears of a repeat of last Sunday's violence at Cronulla.

Police will have up to 2000 officers on duty and will use tough new laws passed by NSW parliament this week to crack down on troublemakers.

"We have intelligence that people are intending to attend those areas to conduct themselves in a riotous manner armed with various weapons - baseball bats, sticks, poles and the like - and it is my intention to keep those communities safe," said Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin.

The dramatic warning followed more unrest in Sydney last night, with 19 people arrested, an elderly man bashed with a crowbar, a molotov cocktail thrown at police and one officer injured in a brawl.

Two men aged 24 and 23 were charged with making explosives with intent ot injure after police found seven molotov cocktails in a unit at Cronulla unit last night.

Matthew Lalor, 24, and Mark Miller, 33 were refused bail in Sutherland local court today after being arrested by Operation SETA officers, who allegedly found seven Molotov cocktails in a Cronulla apartment.

The pair's lawyer told the court they admitted making the Molotov cocktails, but they didn't intend to use them.

The magistrate, Mr Ross Clugston, found that hard to accept and adjourned the case until next week.

Celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Peter Garrett, Bryan Brown and Claudia Karvan made a public plea for "a wave of tolerance".

"It's actually very clear and simple," Blanchett said at Coogee Beach.

"Violence and racism are bad. Whenever they occur they are to be condemned (and) we should not turn a blind eye to them."

Religious leaders also united in solidarity outside a church hall that was burned down in an incident feared linked to the racial violence.

But as Muslim leaders accused talkback radio of fuelling race tensions, Sydney 2GB radio announcer Brian Wilshire was forced to apologise for saying some Lebanese were inbred.

Warnings of new violence this weekend follow retaliatory "smash and bash" attacks in Sydney earlier this week and, since then, a wave of text messages and emails urging further race-based attacks.

Mr Moroney said credible intelligence received from the public indicated gangs would target Cronulla, Sydney's eastern beaches, Wollongong, Newcastle, and some Central Coast beaches.

"I simply seek a level of cooperation from individuals and from families who are travelling to these locations that on this occasion they assist the police by not going," he said.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma warned troublemakers would face harsh penalties.

``Police will be using tough new powers that have been granted to them,'' Mr Iemma told reporters.
He said road blocks would be in place at various locations to be advised.

About 5000 people converged on Sydney's North Cronulla beach last Sunday sparking a race riot which led to further violence across the city's beachside suburbs during the week.

- smh.com.au and AAP

[Felix the Cat]

Thanks for all the posts Lucifer.

[Anarch]

No problem.

I've been talking to some friends in Sydney. Things look complicated to say the least, especially about this weekend.

[Anarch]

Melbourne youths prepare to head north
Richard Kerbaj and Cath Hart
December 16, 2005
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17583846%255E2702,00.html



LEBANESE youths and ethnic "lions" from Melbourne are preparing to join Sydney's race riots, with busloads of troublemakers rumoured to be heading north.

Expectations among the young Lebanese community in western Sydney that further trouble will develop over the weekend come despite calls from their religious leaders, police and politicians for both sides to calm down.

One 22-year-old ethnic Lebanese man yesterday told The Australian he and his friends were ready for a turf war. "The boys reckon it'll be like a scene out of Braveheart," he said.

Sources within the Lebanese community said three busloads of young men from Melbourne - Lebanese, Serbians, Italians and Greeks - and more than 30 carloads were expected to arrive in Sydney today and tomorrow.

"I've talked to a few mates in Melbourne and I know that some of my other buddies have too," said a 29-year-old Lebanese man from Lidcombe, in Sydney's west.


"We're expecting about 30 cars and a couple of busloads of Leb, Serb, Italian and Greek lions to punch on with us."

A Melbourne nightclub bouncer of Bosnian extraction also said word was "getting around" about groups of young men heading to Sydney to fight.

NSW police expressed concern last night about the possibility ethnic numbers would be bolstered by interstate visitors.

A Victorian police spokesman said the force was "monitoring the situation" but had no specific information about the plan.

Prominent Melbourne Muslim leader Waleed Aly yesterday discouraged his community from joining the fray. "It's a stupid thing to do," he said.

Gold Coast police are also bracing for trouble on Sunday, boosting on-duty numbers after text messages urged locals to "crack some skulls". Police contingency plans have been made despite Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's view the text messages were a hoax.

[Anarch]

Skip the taunts, say the surfside locals
Caroline Overington
December 15, 2005
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17572539%255E2702,00.html


THERE were no young men of Middle Eastern appearance on Cronulla Beach yesterday and, according to many locals, that was both a rare and a good thing.

"There's usually tons of them, and when they are here, they cause trouble," said a 14-year-old Cronulla surfer.

"They harass the girls, they call them sluts, you name it. These riots have been a long time coming."

To understand why racial violence has flared across beachside suburbs in NSW recently, it is illuminating to head to the beach where young people tell how they feel about the regular invasion of young men in cars, who taunt girls in bikinis, calling them sluts, skips, tarts and whores, or who play loud music and leave rubbish on the beach.

Katie, 14, and Kelly, 15, beach regulars who have recently taken up surfing, were sitting on their boards when the trouble broke out on Sunday. "You could feel something was going to happen," said Katie, while Kelly added: "The guys who come from other suburbs, they can annoy you." Once, a guy called Ali was looking down at me while I was sunbaking and saying, 'What's your name? Do you smoke?' And he was trying to get me to smoke and trying to get my number."

Mostly, Kelly said, "nobody really cares" about religion, "but it's the way some people behave".

"I have no problem with any group from anywhere," Kelly said. "But I do see people who leave a lot of rubbish around. We're Australians and we see the beach as sacred, but other groups have different ideas.

"They don't come to swim, they come to hang around."

But Katie said the crowds of men who gathered at Cronulla last Sunday claiming to "defend" the beach were not necessarily acting in the best interests of the area. When she hurt herself surfing, she went to a lifeguard for assistance, and he told her: "A lot of the guys here, they are saying they've come to help us but they're just getting drunk."

"Everybody was expecting trouble and the lifeguards were saying, 'We wish this would all stop, we just want a peaceful beach'," Katie said.
Gemma, 15, and Emma, 14, spent yesterday on the beach instead of at school, saying the exams were over and reports were in. "We come here every weekend," Emma said.

She added that "the Lebs" whistled at "the Aussie girls in bikinis", and when the local boys told them off, "they get aggro". "This was coming for a while," Emma said. "People have just had enough."

Almost everyone approached tells the same story: trouble has been brewing for years.

"I was walking along once and I saw this Leb, he was trying to chat up this girl," said Josh, a local surfer.

"He was saying, 'You're beautiful', and she was saying, 'Piss off, wog'. And so then he was saying, 'Yeah, you're a skip, you're a slut', and so, yeah, there's tension down here."

Another young man said his mother had been abused by a car-load of young men.
"This guy said to her, 'I like your body', or something," he said. "And she said: 'I'm old enough to be your mother'. He said: 'If you were my mum, I'd be happy' and that kind of shit."

[Anarch]

Apparently the Turks in Auburn are really pissed off at the Lebo's. And are going to join in. On the Aussie's side. I can't stop laughing. I used to fight those bastards in primary school.

[Anarch]

Radio man apologises for comments
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17594622%255E1702,00.html
December 16, 2005

CLAIMS that Sydney's race violence has been stoked by talkback radio were reinforced today when a radio announcer was forced to apologise for on-air comments about Lebanese Australians.

Macquarie Radio station 2GB also tonight apologised after its Sydney announcer Brian Wilshire last night accused some Lebanese of being "inbred".

On his Thursday night show, Wilshire told listeners: "Many of them have parents who are first cousins whose parents were first cousins.

"The result of this is inbreeding – the result of which is uneducationable (sic) people...and very low IQ."
In an on-air statement at 9pm (AEDT) today, 2GB apologised for the remarks made by Wilshire, and said the 2GB announcer of 25 years would be taking early Christmas leave. His program tonight was instead hosted by announcer Warren Moore.


The statement also appealed for "all Australians regardless of religion or ethnic origin to work together to end violence in our streets".

"2GB management, in consultation with Brian Wilshire, wishes to unreservedly retract certain comments made in last night's show," the network said in its statement.

"We understand that those comments may have caused offence to some members of the Lebanese community and Brian has unreservedly retracted those comments and wishes to apologise for any offence caused.

"In consideration of community sensitivities, and so as not to further inflame community concerns, Brian has agreed to take leave early."

2GB's apology followed a personal apology from Wilshire earlier in the day.
"I understand that those comments may have caused offence to some members of the Lebanese community and I unreservedly retract those comments and I apologise for any offence that might have been caused," the 61-year-old told Network Ten.

Wilshire, whose station biography declares him to be a fifth generation Australian descended from the brother of Sydney's second mayor James Wilshire, has been with 2GB for 25 years.

His apology came as a number of Lebanese community leaders today blamed talkback radio for stoking racial tensions.

"There's been a number of presenters from the same radio station who seem to have fuelled racism," said Lebanese spokesman Keysar Trad.

"They are fuelling racial division."

His comments were echoed as Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders met in solidarity today outside a Sydney Uniting Church, where a hall was burned to the ground on Wednesday night.

About 300 people, including a large group of Muslims from the nearby Omar Mosque in Auburn, as well as representatives of the Christian and Jewish communities, were at the meeting.

Spokesman for Lebanese human rights organisation Cedarwatch, Stephen Stanton, cited 2GB when he blamed talkback radio for helping to incite the violence of the past week.

"Deep in your hearts there are two matters that are hurting you today," Mr Stanton told the crowd.

One example was 2GB.

"The airwaves are useless if they are used by people such as that," he said, to applause from the crowd.

Australian Islamic Cultural Centre president Sheikh Shafiq Khan also criticised the role of the media.

"The media are the arm of the community," Sheik Khan said.

"The government, the media, the community and police, they are working together like a car.
"If one (of these) is not good, the car cannot work."

[Anarch]

Three arrests over Cronulla riots
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17591657%255E1702,00.html
December 16, 2005

THREE teenagers have been arrested over race-related violence in Cronulla in Sydney's south-west last Sunday.

The arrests relate to violence on a train at Cronulla Railway station about 3pm (AEDT) last Sunday, police said.

An 18-year-old man was arrested just after 4.30pm today at his home at south suburban Caringbah, police said.

A 14-year-old was arrested by detectives at his Woolooware home shortly before 6pm.
They are being questioned at Miranda Police Station.


The third, a 19-year-old, was arrested at his home in Old Toongabbie about 6pm.

He was taken to Parramatta police station where he is helping police with inquiries.

The arrests come after Strike Force Enoggera was set up to investigate the violence which has gripped Sydney's beaches.

Strike force commander, Detective Superintendent Dennis Bray, said more arrests were expected in the coming days and weeks.

"Today's arrests should send a clear warning to the community," he said.

"If you have been involved in criminal and riotous behaviour, expect a knock on the door from police."

He said he had a "large team of detectives analysing information into a string of incidents".

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney today urged people to stay away from beaches in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast because of fears of a repeat of the violence at Cronulla this weekend.

Warnings of new violence follow retaliatory "smash and bash" attacks in Sydney earlier this week and, since then, a wave of text messages and emails urging further race-based attacks.
Police will have up to 2000 officers on duty and will use tough new laws passed by NSW parliament this week to crack down on troublemakers.

[Anarch]

reHaha. Cate Blanchett (who has slept with aboriginal actor 'Ernie Dingo' (who is a dickhead, btw)) lecturing Aussies on how to behave. This is hilarious. As if anyone gives a shit what she's got to say, really :rofl:


Celebrities join call for calm
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17586752%255E1702,00.html
December 16, 2005


ACTRESS Cate Blanchett has led a star-studded group of celebrities in an appeal for tolerance in the wake of Sydney's race violence.

With the threat of further violence this weekend after last Sunday's race riot at Cronulla, the Oscar winner joined other actors, musicians and Sydney identities to issue a plea for peace.

In a stage-managed event at Coogee Beach, the group stood in front of a banner calling for a "wave of tolerance" to sweep Australia.

Celebrity turned politician Peter Garrett, the federal Labor MP for Kingsford Smith, said the group was delivering a message about "the unacceptability of violence (and) the necessity for us to embrace respect and tolerance".

Blanchett, together with musician Jimmy Barnes, former South Sydney footballer Mario Fenech and actors Bryan Brown and Claudia Karvan, read a joint statement.


"It's actually very clear and simple," said Blanchett, dressed casually in a sun-hat, brown jacket and designer jeans.

"Violence and racism are bad. Whenever they occur they are to be condemned (and) we should not turn a blind eye to them.

"It's about respect. Respect for others, respect for the rights of others and respect of the rights of everyone to go about their lives in a peaceful way."

Karvan called on all community leaders to work to stop the violence.

"All leaders – community, government, religious, all media, those who have influence – should condemn it," she said.
"All leaders should actively work to stop violence and to stop their fellow Australians behaving that way."

[Anarch]

Six beaches unsafe
By GEMMA JONES
December 17, 2005
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17588820-5001021,00.html

POLICE yesterday declared six popular beaches unsafe for public use this weekend after intelligence revealed armed rioters are planning attacks.


In an unprecedented move, Police Commissioner Ken Moroney urged people to stay away from Cronulla, Maroubra and Bondi beaches in Sydney, Terrigal on the Central Coast, Nobbys Beach in Newcastle and beaches in Wollongong.

The lockdown decision was made after police received "credible threats" the areas would become race riot zones.

"These are extraordinary measures for extraordinary times," Mr Moroney said.

Those who ignore the advice will have their cars searched at checkpoints and will be turned away by police, unless they have a valid reason for going into the areas.

Intelligence, which includes e-mails and SMS messages, has revealed rioters planning attacks may bring weapons, including guns, baseball bats and sticks.


The information has prompted Mr Moroney to task another 500 police to patrol the beachside flashpoints on Sunday, bringing the total number to 2000.

He said while he was advising against going to the beach this weekend, officers would not turn away people wanting to go for a swim.

The beach no-go zones were announced as celebrities rallied for peace at Coogee beach.

Actors Cate Blanchett, Claudia Karvan and Bryan Brown joined singer Jimmy Barnes to call for tolerance.

"It is actually very clear and simple," Blanchett said.

"Violence and racism are bad. Whenever they occur they are to to be condemned and we should not turn a blind eye.
"It's about respect for others, respect for the rights of others and respect of the rights of everyone to go about their lives in a peaceful way."

Despite the display of goodwill yesterday the fight against the racial unrest will be long, according to Premier Morris Iemma, who said he regretted having to declare beach areas off limits.

"The police have advised me there are credible threats of large numbers of people wishing to converge at a range of beachside locations intent on riotous behaviour," he said.

"Based on the credibility of these reports travel to these areas should be avoided.

"Residents should not be at those locations."

Mr Iemma's warning that the fight against the unrest will be long has left open the possibility of beach lockdowns over the Christmas weekend and new year period.

"This is not a fight that will be won in the short term.

"What has happened is a bunch of criminals and hooligans have declared war on our society," Mr Iemma said.

"Our determination is absolute to ensure the thugs and the criminals and the hoodlums meet with the full force of the law."
Mr Iemma said hundreds of prison cells would be made available to lock up troublemakers.

"This fight will be won by decent, law-abiding citizens."

Police were last night finalising the areas to be locked down.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin will command the operation. He said officers had a "very mobile strike capability and a very good ability to move resources around".

Mr Goodwin said police had received reports rioters were planning to use weapons this weekend.

"We have thousands of intelligence reports coming to us, some of those include firearms. Mostly it includes baseball bats and sticks to have it out on the beach," he said.

This weekend's police deployment of 2000 out of the 14,745 serving NSW officers is the biggest police operation since the Olympics.

"There is a very clear message. The beaches of NSW are a fan-tastic place to be and they arethe property of every citizen in this country," Mr Goodwinsaid yesterday.

"This is simply to keep those communities (near the beaches) safe," he said.
Mr Moroney defended the extraordinary lockdown, saying it was his duty "to be honest with the people of NSW" and to keep people informed about the risks they faced on the state's coast.

[raven]

Katie, 14, and Kelly, 15, beach regulars who have recently taken up surfing, were sitting on their boards when the trouble broke out on Sunday. "You could feel something was going to happen," said Katie, while Kelly added: "The guys who come from other suburbs, they can annoy you." Once, a guy called Ali was looking down at me while I was sunbaking and saying, 'What's your name? Do you smoke?' And he was trying to get me to smoke and trying to get my number."

Mostly, Kelly said, "nobody really cares" about religion, "but it's the way some people behave".

"I have no problem with any group from anywhere," Kelly said. "But I do see people who leave a lot of rubbish around. We're Australians and we see the beach as sacred, but other groups have different ideas.

"They don't come to swim, they come to hang around."

She added that "the Lebs" whistled at "the Aussie girls in bikinis", and when the local boys told them off, "they get aggro". "This was coming for a while," Emma said. "People have just had enough."

"He was saying, 'You're beautiful', and she was saying, 'Piss off, wog'.
:rofl: It seems like the Aussie girls have some common sense. I can't stand the naive white girls who hook up with muslim guys, submit to Allah and get married totally turning their back on their culture. :rolleyes: Hell there was even a Belgian girl who suicide-bombed herself in Iraq. Fucking Crazy. It's great to see the aussie girls giving them a piece of their mind. ;) Hopefully from now on Aussie women will be safe from these jihadist scum. Reading some of the shit that these muslim lebs do (though the 5th of the sydney gang rapes were by pakis) is quite infuriating.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

Busses of Lebos otw to Sydney but you will stay in Melbourne eh Ken? :D

[Anarch]

Busses of Lebos otw to Sydney but you will stay in Melbourne eh Ken? :D

I'm not longer working as a casual laborer for my new job. In addition, I'm short on cash and I need the money. The overwhelming majority of these Lebo's are on welfare, so they can get their money anywhere there's a government 'centerlink' office (centerlink is what the gov. welfare department is called here), and they get paid weekly. I get paid fortnightly. IF I was on welfare (and I don't intend to get on welfare, it's a personal thing for me, I don't like being a parasite, besides - I can't, my parents earn decent money and that's a restriction according to the Gov.) I'd head up there and drag along a bunch of mates with me.

[jcs]

I don't intend to get on welfare, it's a personal thing for me, I don't like being a parasite
Pride is the strangest of all human emotions.

[Anarch]

True enough.

A question before people read this: the question remains, what does Peter Costello (Deputy Prime Minster, rough equivalent of Vice President) mean by 'Australia'? What is it he expects immigrants to assimilate to?

Costello: loyalty must be to nation
John Masanauskas
17dec05
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17591606%255E662,00.html

PETER Costello demanded yesterday that people living in Australia give their first loyalty to the nation.

The would-be prime minister said he was against multiculturalism if it meant not assimilating into Australia.

"If your loyalty isn't to Australia, well, there may be another country where you feel happier," he said.

But unlike Prime Minister John Howard, the Treasurer attacked the Sydney rioters who wrapped themselves in the Australian flag.

"I don't want to see the Australian flag used in fights or hooliganism. It's a flag that Australians have fought under for their freedom and for law and order," he said.

"It's not owned by gangs. It's owned by the nation."

Mr Howard had said he would not criticise people for being proud of the flag, but he condemned loutish and criminal behaviour.

Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Mr Costello said he did not believe the riots had changed Australia.

"The Sydney riots were an example of hoodlums who got out of control and should have been stopped," he said.

"I don't think it was caused by racism, but lawlessness can breed racism and that's why you don't want lawlessness."

Asked if multicultural policy should be reviewed, Mr Costello said: "If multiculturalism means eating souvlaki and dancing the Zorba, I'm absolutely for it.

"If multiculturalism means not assimilating into Australia and not having your first love for this country, the country where you live, I'm against it."
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley rejected any suggestion immigration policy was to blame for the riots.

[Anarch]

Beach alert as swords seized
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/beach-alert-as-swords-seized/2005/12/17/1134703634109.html
Sydney
December 17, 2005 - 11:37AM

People are being warned off some of NSW's most popular beaches ahead of more racial violence tipped for this weekend.

Up to 2,000 police officers will be out on the streets today, using tough new laws passed by the NSW parliament this week to crack down on troublemakers.

Warnings of new violence follow a race riot last Sunday in Cronulla, in Sydney's south, retaliatory "smash and bash" attacks elsewhere around the city earlier this week and, since then, a wave of text messages and emails urging further race-based attacks.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney yesterday urged people to stay away from beaches in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast.

Overnight, police arrested 19 people as part of Operation Seta, the new strike force set up this week to crack down on race-related violence.

Police said 23 charges were laid for drink driving, traffic and drug offences and outstanding warrants.

The total number of arrests under the operation now stands at 63, and 101 charges have been laid.

Police have also seized a vehicle at Matraville, in Sydney's south, the first car taken under the new powers given to police.
Inside they found swords and a dagger.

Three men, all aged under 19, will appear in court today charged over a violent incident on a train at Cronulla last Sunday, when up to 5,000 people gathered along the beachfront and a number of people of Middle Eastern appearance were attacked.

All three have been charged with riot and affray and have been refused bail.
AAP

[Anarch]

My fellow Australians, welcome to the police state.

Gold Coast asked to report racial texts
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/gold-coast-asked-to-report-racial-texts/2005/12/17/1134703639504.html
December 17, 2005 - 4:40PM

Police are calling on Gold Coast locals to report any mobile phone text messages which incite race-related violence.

Police are on alert following a text message circulated earlier this week on the Gold Coast which urged locals to rally tomorrow and fight against "wogs" and "Lebs".

The message is thought to be a copycat hoax after the Sydney riots last weekend.

However, police said they are monitoring the situation closely and have a contingency plan should there be any unrest.

A number of people have been interviewed over the text messages.

Extra police will be available and a joint major incident room with emergency services will monitor the situation and coordinate any necessary response.

Police have also been meeting with ethnic groups and Gold Coast business associations to discuss any issues or concerns.

The author of the messages faces a $5,000 fine and six months in jail.
- AAP

[Anarch]

Government announces cultural awareness initiative
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/government-announces-cultural-awareness-initiative/2005/12/17/1134703644639.html
December 18, 2005


As NSW police lock down Sydney beaches to prevent more racial violence, the federal government has launched an initiative to promote cross cultural understanding between young Australians of different backgrounds.

Up to 1,500 police were on duty across Sydney's east and south today, closing roads, setting up car checkpoints and backed up with tough new laws passed by state parliament this week following several days of violence.

But in an effort to develop a deeper understanding between Australians of different ethnic backgrounds federal Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister John Cobb today announced a package worth $440,000 to be spent over three years

Designed to support young ethnic Australians wishing to become involved in surf lifesaving, the program is a joint initiative of the federal government, Sutherland Shire Council, where most of the recent violence has taken place, Surf Life Saving NSW and Surf Life Saving Australia.

A full-time coordination officer will be provided to ensure the participants are fully incorporated into surf clubs.

Mr Cobb said he hoped the program would encourage friendly relations between Australia's different ethnic communities.

"I hope that this unique program will convert the participants into ambassadors for the Australian beach culture in their own communities and promote new understanding and friendships between communities," he said.

He congratulated community leaders working to find solutions to the recent violence, which has rocked the suburbs of Cronulla, Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands.

Federal Liberal backbencher Bruce Baird, whose Cook electorate takes in many of the south-eastern Sydney suburbs affected by the violence, welcomed the initiative, saying it would have a "meaningful effect on inter-cultural relations in Sydney".

"The purpose of this program is to provide a forum for young Shire residents and young Lebanese Australians to gain appreciation of one another's cultures," said Mr Baird, who this week held a meeting with the Lebanese community, police, surf and rugby league clubs about the violence.

"It is hoped that it will provide Lebanese youths with a deeper understanding and respect for the beach culture and etiquette in the Sutherland Shire ... ."

He said in turn, the program would provide the youth of Sutherland Shire with a deeper understanding of Lebanese and other cultures.
- AAP

[Anarch]

Beaches almost deserted
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/beaches-almost-deserted/2005/12/17/1134703644642.html
December 18, 2005

Some of NSW's most popular beaches were almost deserted today as people heeded police calls to stay away amid fears of more racial violence.
Up to 1,500 officers hit streets in Sydney's east and south, closing some 31 roads and using tough new laws passed by state parliament this week to crack down on troublemakers after several days of violence.

NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione repeated calls for people to stay away from beaches in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast.

He also apologised for major traffic delays caused by the lockdowns and road closures at hot spots across the state.

"We apologise for the delays and for the inconvenience but this is not a normal weekend," he said.

"We are doing this to ensure that we keep our beaches and our communities safe."

Warnings of new violence follow a race riot last Sunday in Cronulla, in Sydney's south, retaliatory "smash and bash" attacks elsewhere around the city earlier this week and, since then, a wave of text messages and emails urging further race-based attacks.

Working around the clock, police arrested 19 people overnight as part of Operation Seta, the new strike force set up this week to crack down on race-related violence.

Twenty-three charges were laid for drink driving, traffic and drug offences and outstanding warrants.

The total number of arrests under the operation now stands at 63, and 101 charges have been laid.

Police also seized a vehicle at Matraville, in Sydney's south, the first car taken under the new powers given to police.

Inside they found swords and a dagger.

Talking big on law and order, NSW Premier Morris Iemma today announced police would be equipped with four all-terrain quad bikes as they patrol Sydney's beaches this weekend.

Meanwhile, a high speed inflatable police boat surveyed Maroubra Beach from the sea, where about 60 cars were trashed last Sunday night in an apparent retaliatory strike by Lebanese gangs.

"The NSW government will not relent in its efforts to restore harmony in our community," Mr Iemma said, warning that there were "400 prison cells" waiting for those who intend to cause trouble.

The increased police powers would cause inconvenience for Sydneysiders, the premier conceded.

"That's a small price to pay to ensure maximum safety for the public in regaining control of the streets and public areas from these people, these hooligans and criminals, who are intent on causing trouble," he told reporters.

Mr Scipione defended the decision to lock-down parts of the state, saying any price was worth paying if it staved off the events of the last week.
"Clearly the fact that we are doing what we are doing would indicate that we have some sort of serious intelligence," he told reporters.

"We are working on the basis of a worse case scenario."

Asked how many people police expected to gather at beaches across Sydney tomorrow, Mr Scipione said: "For us to put 2,000 police out there then we would be working on quite a large number.

"Our concern is tomorrow that crowds will grow."

A Carols by Candlelight concert planned for Coogee Beach tomorrow night, expected to attract 3,000 people, has been cancelled because of the threat of violence.

At Cronulla today federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs John Cobb announced $440,000 would be spent over three years on projects providing cross-cultural experiences for young people from Sydney's Sutherland Shire district and Lebanese communities.
- AAP

[Anarch]

A great divide takes some understanding
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/a-great-divide-takes-some-understanding/2005/12/16/1134703611534.html?page=5
December 17, 2005


Understanding traditional social structures of the Lebanese would go a long way toward avoiding the racial clashes seen at Cronulla this week, writes Paul Sheehan.

MICHAEL Kennedy was sitting in the living room of a Lebanese drug dealer in Condell Park when the dealer pulled a gun from his belt. He pointed it at Kennedy's head.

"You're an undercover cop," the dealer said. Kennedy did not move. He had been operating behind enemy lines for so long he could remain, at least outwardly, calm.

The two men looked at one another, the gun pointed at Kennedy's temple. He had time to examine the weapon. Russian. Nine millimetre.
"Is that a registered handgun?" Kennedy asked.

It was a strange thing to say under the circumstances.
"No," the dealer replied.

"Well, you could be charged for that," said Kennedy, keeping a benign expression, as if he were offering friendly advice. Then he added: "And yes, I'm an undercover cop, so you'd better put that gun away."
Pause.

"You're right," the dealer replied. He slipped the gun back into his belt, under his shirt.

Somewhere in this transaction, Kennedy and the drug dealer, a Maronite Christian, had reached an understanding. Kennedy had proved himself. They could talk about what to do next. Some honour code had been reached. Kennedy never charged the dealer. What he wanted was information.

"He ended up being not a bad source of information. That's what [NSW Police Commissioner] Ken Moroney doesn't understand. You don't need a show of force and tough words, you need information, pointy information, and you simply have to put up with the baggage to get it …

"Moroney speaks in cliches. It suited the ALP to emasculate the police. They now run the police like a business, like a Coca-Cola bottling plant, statistics and productivity bonuses. It's all data-driven."

This view has friends in high places, such as Senator Bill Heffernan: "The NSW Police has just developed into a pansy operation since politicians took away the kick-arse provisions in the law. You give the crims an inch and they take a mile."

Down at ground zero, a former policeman from Cronulla said this week: "It's as if they've left the police band out to do the job. They are small, young, one-stripe. Little experience. No street presence. They can't do it."

To this day, Kennedy has mates in the Lebanese underworld, Muslim and Christian. He has been to Lebanon. He likes the Lebanese. "With the Lebanese, even those involved in organised crime, once you get their trust, they are easy to deal with. Their front door is always open. They work on the basis of the extended family."


This is a familiarity built over 25 years, first as a policeman, then in intelligence operations, then as a community worker and now as a member of the faculty of the University of Western Sydney. He has a PhD. His honours thesis was about policing in the Lebanese community. He looks at the phenomenon with sympathy for both sides. He believes young Lebanese men have been radicalised, and young police officers sacrificed, by an inept political and legal class.

Kennedy goes back to the source of the subculture at the eye of the racial storm in Sydney, the northern towns and villages around Zgharta, Batroun and El Mina, and the Bekaa Valley. These provided the third wave of Lebanese immigrants to Australia, when 16,000 mostly Shiite and Sunni Muslims fled the Lebanese civil war after 1975, a war in which more than 150,000 died and 200,000 were injured in a population not much greater than Sydney's.

"We got north Lebanese, disproportionately Shiite, mostly peasants, mostly uneducated, who didn't want to be here in the first place," Kennedy says. "They come from a very patriarchal culture. They don't go in for the greater good. Their families have survived a brutal civil war. They are tribal. They are aggressive. They are in your face. And they are not grateful.

"Historically, they have always been shafted, and so they are used to looking after themselves. When the Turks ran Lebanon, the minority Sunnis controlled government contracts. When the French took over, the Maronites got the contracts. The Sunnis and the Maronites developed a healthy business relationship. The Shiites were left out, they did the lowest jobs, and they were lower than working class."

According to the last census, the Lebanese community in Sydney was 114,491 in 2001, so would be about 120,000 today, or 3 per cent of Sydney's population. About a third are Muslim. Ninety per cent were born overseas or have at least one foreign-born parent. The community is almost as diverse as Lebanon itself - Maronite, Orthodox, Shiite, Sunni, Druze and secular. The majority are Maronite, who dominated the first 80 years of Lebanese migration to Australia and whose children blended into the Catholic school system.

Though the Lebanese Muslim community is about 40,000 - just 1 per cent of Sydney's 4 million population - Kennedy believes the social gulf has drifted to the point of social danger: "The mismanagement of this situation by politicians, lawyers and police has taken us to the point where we could see violent civil disorder on a scale we have not seen before. The minute you talk tough, and these Lebanese guys lose face, they only know one thing to do. Retaliate. You saw it immediately after the Cronulla riot.


"They react with emotion. Violent emotion. You've seen the funerals in the Middle East where people are tearing their hair out. There is also the mentality you see in prison, where any failure to retaliate, immediately, and with violence, will mark you as weak, and therefore vulnerable. This is the logic of the street, not society, and they have completely insulated themselves from society."

Kennedy believes police have failed to absorb even the surface of the complexities of the traditional social structures of the Lebanese, which often revolve around the za'im, who controls the patronage and kinship relationships, and the qabaday, who backs him up. In an Australian context, this tradition is seen as "muscle", but in Lebanon, where the state was weak, the concept of protection is entirely different.

The concept of muscle, or vigilantism, expressed itself last week via the new organising tool of society, the mobile phone. While Australian provocateurs and racists were circulating mass text messages about taking back the beaches from the Lebs, similarly inflammatory text messages were soon circulating through a sub-group of Lebanese. Just as the Cronulla rally opened an opportunity for the right-wing fringe, the worst text circulating among the Lebanese carried overtones of the Lebanese civil war: "Today in the jungle the lion sleeps. Wake up, wake up oh lions of Lebanon, 'retaliate', take action for we are the king of the jungle. Show them we have awakened this Sunday. We will all meet at Brighton and together exterminate the enemy at Cronulla."

While the violence at Cronulla was racist mob hysteria, it was also alcohol-fuelled, random and spontaneous, and there have been some conspicuous apologies. In contrast, the response from the hard men in Lakemba, Punchbowl and Bankstown, was co-ordinated, armed, premeditated and took the violence to another level.

On Monday night, men in cars assembled at Punchbowl Park, then drove in convoy, with hazard lights on, to Cronulla, where the convoy proceeded in formation down both sides of the Kingsway. A megaphone was brought along to challenge people to come out and fight. It was a message. The police do not control the streets.

The police, by accident or design, were nowhere to be seen during this militia-style show of force. It was the latest in a long line of embarrassments. Tim Priest, another police whistleblower, warned in a speech delivered on November 12, 2003, two years before the Cronulla riots and the Paris riots: "In hundreds upon hundreds of incidents police have backed down to Middle Eastern thugs and taken no action and allowed incidents to go unpunished. I stress the unbelievable influence that local politicians and religious leaders played in covering up the real state of play in the south-west …


"My prediction is that within 10 years there will be no-go areas in south-western Sydney, just like Paris … What sets the Middle Eastern gangs apart from all other gangs is their propensity to use violence at any time for any reason."

Priest and Kennedy differ on analysis for dealing with this - Priest has drifted to the right, Kennedy to the hard left - but find common cause in what they see as corporatised, non-intuitive, statistics-driven, politicised policing.

Priest: "As police began to gather and act on intelligence on these emerging Middle Eastern gangs, the NSW Police was restructured under Peter Ryan and crime intelligence was dismantled overnight and the NSW Police turned against every convention known to Western policing."
Kennedy, in his honours thesis, wrote: "Law enforcement changed significantly when zero tolerance policing was officially launched in 1998 by way of Operation and Crime Reviews … This declaration of war against the Arabic-speaking community in 1998 [caused] the young men of the community to retaliate, not only with an aggressive protest masculinity, but the withdrawal of support for the moral authority of the police … Zero tolerance policing is seen as being directed towards the entire Arabic community."

So the police reaped the worst of both worlds - they acted tough, generating resentment, while their intelligence operations shrivelled, generating loss of control.

All these critics cohere around a belief that the Wood royal commission into the police, which ran from 1994 to 1998, was a disaster from which civil order and police intelligence have yet to recover.

Heffernan: "The Wood royal commission was a farce. There ought to be a royal commission into the royal commission."

Kennedy: "There was a huge struggle by the legal establishment to undermine the police. We had a royal commission that fed the public a lot of nonsense. The Wood royal commission absolutely interfered with policing in this state."

Priest: "In 1996, with the arrival of Peter Ryan [as NSW police commissioner], and the continued public humiliation of the NSW Police through the Wood royal commission, a chain of events began that have affected the police so deeply and so completely that, as far as ensuing public safety, I fear it will take at least a generation to regain lost ground."

The Cronulla former detective (who doesn't want to be named because he has a business in the area and fears it would be attacked): "The young police know that if they ever go in hard, they will get no back-up from the courts, or the police hierarchy. They may be charged with assault and accused of being racist. So we have a static, scared, reactive police force that is driven by statistics, not arrests. That's why you're starting to see vigilante-type thinking."


The local member for Cronulla, Malcolm Kerr, has been saying something similar for years. "The reason why thousands of people gathered on the beach last Sunday was because there has been aggressive behaviour on the beach, and at Gunnamatta Park, for years. I organised a rally about this in 2001. We've been complaining about a lack of police numbers, a lack of police presence, and a lack of police response, for years."
At the rally, former assistant police commissioner Geoff Schuberg told the audience: "Police in this area are barely coping." Before 1997, he said, Cronulla had had its own police station, and area commander, and 50 police, which had dwindled to 29. "Response times are now often two hours."

Over the past week, a series of newspaper reports have quoted girls in Cronulla saying aggression and sexual innuendo from young Lebanese men have been routine for years at Cronulla. A middle-aged Lebanese man, Peter, who has regularly visited friends at Cronulla, told the story of how they would be surrounded by dozens of young Lebanese men who would tell them, "This is our spot", and intimidate them out of the picnic area.
Another police officer, a detective sergeant, says: "In reality, the sexual assaults and harassment are much higher than are reported. Many girls don't have the courage to face these young men. They are ruthless; they have no regard for the law." There have been thousands of incidents of girls being called "sluts" or similar at Cronulla and elsewhere over the past decade. This sense of loss of civil safety was the context of the size of the Cronulla demonstration last Sunday.

There has also been some bad luck involved for the Lebanese who migrated in the mid-1970s. When the Shiites and Sunnis began arriving it was at the same time as the oil recession began. Many went straight onto social security and a culture of welfare dependence became entrenched. The government later introduced year 12 as a requirement for apprenticeships, when a lot of these new arrivals wanted to leave school in year 10.

"You can't beat these people into submission," says Kennedy. "It will empower the most violent. The police can only keep a lid on things. This is about politics. Politicians can't expect the rank and file to sort out the messes they have been creating. If they want to run the state like a business, then we are going to see stress in the culture down in the grassroots. This is a symptom of something much bigger."

[Anarch]

Suburb lockdown after arrests
December 19, 2005
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/suburb-lockdown-after-arrests/2005/12/18/1134840741191.html?page=2

A Sydney suburb is in lockdown tonight after the arrests of five suspected white supremacists in a car equipped to function as a petrol bomb factory.

Police were forced to close off Brighton-le-Sands to anyone except residents after the men, understood to have links to a white supremacist group, were found in a car carrying a 25-litre drum of petrol and equipment to make molotov cocktails.

Police also said the men had commando-style utility belts, helmets, police scanners and portable radios.

Earlier today, two other men armed with molotov cocktails were arrested aboard a bus bound for Bondi Beach.

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said people from interstate were among those detained today, in the first sign people were crossing borders to join organised violence in Sydney.

As about 1,000 people rallied in the central business district to promote peace, the discovery of the five men during a routine car check at Brighton-le-Sands sparked immediate action.

The suburb, on Botany Bay, was immediately closed to all traffic, with residents the only exception.

It remains locked down tonight, after police said there had been "an escalation in anti-social behaviour".

Police were taking no chances of more widespread violence today, with 2,000 officers patrolling flashpoints - an increase on the 1,500 on duty yesterday.

The huge presence was credited with heading off any repeat of last week's violent race riot at Cronulla, and the series of retaliatory attacks that followed.

Beach suburbs hit by the recent unrest were quiet today, as people heeded NSW Premier Morris Iemma's call to stay away.

The police commissioner said one of the two men arrested aboard the bus headed to Bondi was from Melbourne, which seemed to confirm fears people were travelling from interstate to join the unrest.

"... a number of persons have been detected travelling from interstate, indeed one of those charged in relation to the bus incident at Bondi ... was from Melbourne," Mr Moroney told reporters. [Note: ROFLMAO the WOGS GOT BUSTED :D]

"A number of persons in possession of offensive weapons are from the ACT and Canberra."

He said all seven arrested for allegedly carrying molotov cocktails would be charged with possession of offensive weapons.

He said all would be refused bail under the provisions of NSW's new anti-riot laws, which were passed during an emergency sitting of state parliament last week and include the lockdown provisions used this weekend.

Mr Moroney promised there would be no let up in the operation, saying police would do everything necessary to maintain law and order in Sydney.
He said more than 108 people had been charged with more than 200 offences since the start of Operation Seta, set up to crack down on racial violence after Sunday's Cronulla riot.

Since Friday alone, police had made 59 arrests, seizing 22 mobile phones, more than 13 cars and scores of weapons including baseball bats, knuckle-dusters and hammers.

Mr Iemma said the police job was far from over, with some reports of "build-up in a number of key areas".

"There is still is a lot of work to be done but so far the police have done an outstanding job," he told reporters in Sydney.

"We have to remain vigilant from here on in. This is not going to be a one-day fight. We're in for a long, hard fight. The streets are going to be safe for all peace-loving citizens."

Meanwhile, fears Sydney's unrest could spread to cities in regional NSW and interstate did not materialise today.

There had been fears of violence in Newcastle, north of Sydney, and Wollongong, south of the city, but that did not eventuate.

However, Wollongong police today confiscated five cars, seizing a replica pistol, knives and golf clubs.

Police in Perth said residents had ignored text messages urging them to attend racist rallies at local beaches to take action against "Arabs".

There was also no sign of trouble on Queensland's Gold Coast, where mobile phone message urging people to start "cracking skulls" failed to have any effect.

Police at Surfers Paradise had to deal with one group of males at a beachside pub holding an Australian flag and chanting Aussie slogans. One man was charged with disorderly behaviour. [Note: Patriotism is now illegal.]

At today's peace rally in Sydney, organiser and National Union of Students anti-racism officer Osmond Chiu called on Prime Minister John Howard to admit the existence of racism in Australia.

"John Howard, the leader of our country, has denied that racism played a part in the week's violence," Mr Chiu said.

"He needs to admit that racism played a big part in what happened. Only when that happens can we go back to building a tolerant, accepting and diverse society."

Meanwhile, Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley warned Australia must never allow itself to be exposed to the dangers of segregation.

"We must never ever in this country go down the path of segregation, we do not want a segregated society," Mr Beazley told Macquarie Radio Network today.

"We are a terrific country ... and it glories in its multicultural character."
There were a total of eight arrests in Sydney today including the five at Brighton-le-Sands, the two on the bus to Bondi.

The eighth was a Narwee man, who is the fourth person to be charged over last Sunday's riot at Cronulla.

- AAP

[Anarch]

Beazley backs beach crackdown
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/beazley-backs-beach-crackdown/2005/12/18/1134840731917.html
December 18, 2005 - 1:00PM


Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley warns Australia should avoid segregation in the wake of Sydney's recent race riots.

Mr Beazley said it was "a very sad thing" when a week before Christmas police had warned people to stay away from popular beaches in Sydney's east and south.

Armed with new powers passed by parliament this week, up to 2000 police officers are on duty today amid fears of a repeat of last Sunday's riot at North Cronulla beach in Sydney's south where crowds turned on anyone of Middle Eastern appearance.

Further violence in other beachside suburbs such as Maroubra also broke out last weekend in apparent retaliatory attacks.

"We must never ever in this country go down the path of segregation, we do not want a segregated society," Mr Beazley told Macquarie Radio Network today.

"We are a terrific country ... and it glories in its multicultural character."

Mr Beazley said he supported the NSW government's response to the violence, giving police more power to close beaches.

"I support absolutely what (NSW Premier) Morris Iemma's government is doing," Mr Beazley said.

"The only people who should be in a position showing force in this community are the authorities, in this case the police.

Mr Beazley said the recent violence broadcast around the globe would do "a great deal of damage" to Australia's image.

"It fits in with the stereotype of Australians that we got away from," he said.

"In the region around us for years and years we were stereotyped as exclusive and racist and the rest of it. It was never true and it's not true now.

"We are not a racist country by any description."

Mr Beazley said "it was a crying shame" the antidote to the violence such as the talks between community members, politicians and the police response, did not make headlines around the globe.

- AAP

[raven]

My fellow Australians, welcome to the police state.

Australia's government should rename itself the Lock 'Em Up Party of Australia and elect Multimoot as their Prime Minister. The PC-certified drones can finally have the Extreme Leftist Antifa Totalitarian government they always wanted. No wait, Canada's government is just the same if not worse. :D

[Felix the Cat]

"We got north Lebanese, disproportionately Shiite, mostly peasants, mostly uneducated,
That's interesting. And it explains something I noticed on another (international) forum while these disturbances were going on, which was that the Iranians there seemed to be the most hysterical critics of Australian "racism". Other Muslims were quite moderate by comparison.

[Felix the Cat]

(America is to blame, apparently. Hmm.)

Years of rejection erupted in open rebellion (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/12/16/1134703611519.html)

IT'S a long way from Brooklyn to the streets of Belmore, Punchbowl and Lakemba, but Tupac Shakur would find much to make him welcome. His name is sprayed on walls and fences and scratched on toilet doors. When concrete is poured, the shorthand follows: "2pac 4ever."

That a dead singer finds eternal life in the adulation of fans is a curious phenomenon. Elvis is that classic cultural oddity. But Love Me Tender in the hands of Tupac, the rapper murdered in 1996, is full of Glock pistols, cops and bad ass bitches, a culture of rejection and victimhood and an intense claim to the unfettered right of revenge.

Pride and shame are powerful forces - in rap and in the hearts of Lebanese Australians. For years while their country disappeared down the sinkhole of civil war Lebanese people felt mainly shame or, at best, embarrassment.

Joseph Wakim, founder of the Australian Arabic Council, says: "Now people are saying, 'I'm sick of this pressure to feel ashamed of who I am. I actually want to feel proud, to wear it publicly', and a generation later you're getting a very ugly manifestation of cultural chauvinism".

The extreme behaviour of an extreme minority has created an aura that can be assumed by anyone who follows in their wake. A politics of fear, and demonisation by the media, has given these young men even "larger horns and longer tails" than ever existed, Mr Wakim said.

Gangsta rap dovetails perfectly in the lives of those who want to instill fear.

"If I walk around the streets, publicly promoting the fact that I am Lebanese and looking tough, there's going to be smoke preceding me even before I turn the corner. It's like a cowboy mentality, and people get an adrenaline rush," he said.

While very few Australian men of Lebanese background choose to take advantage of it, a minority lacking pride in anything else revel in the power.

"The one opportunity, the one forum, that gives them a sense of pride and meaning is to congregate with other people, in the safety of numbers, and pretend they are king of the streets," Mr Wakim said.

Radical clerics have exacerbated the power of victimhood, cashing in on the fight against terrorism. Their message is that "You're the victims; Australia is racist", suggested Mustapha Kara-Ali, a representative on the Muslim Community Reference Group, the Government's advisory body.

"The youth are being trained on this message and so they can easily identify with a black minority in America that were oppressed and victimised by the 'white man'."

An isolationist message is often reinforced at home and, once an attitude of rebellion takes root, it can spiral out of control.

Silma Ihram, Principal of Noor Al Houda Islamic College in Strathfield, believes some parents are really struggling with their children. In Lebanon, family control is maintained under the watchful eyes of the wider community. "Here the kids might be dealing drugs up the street [and no one knows]. It's a completely different environment.

"They're not doing the [Islamic religious] practice and they haven't got the values, and all they have left is the anger."

The idea of some young Australian Lebanese Muslims caught between the mosque and the street has an appealing simplicity. It was also a furphy, said Scott Poynting, co-author of Bin Laden in the Suburbs.

"They're not lost at all. They're actually very skilful at moving between different cultures, at navigating between them and blending them creatively and they do so quite strategically depending on the social context."

But the problem had to be dealt with now, Mr Wakim said. "They become like mini-terrorists and the deeper they go, the harder it is to reform them."

[Anarch]

Posted on 18 Dec 2005 # Reuters
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=69222

Sydney police seize weapons, new beach unrest threatens

By Jim Regan, SYDNEY : Australian police today boosted security around Sydney's beaches, fearing fresh outbreaks of racial violence as they seized petrol bombs, knives, iron bars and mobile phones used to spread racist text messages.

Police patrolled beaches on horseback and set up checkpoints around some of the city's favourite summer playgrounds, including Bondi Beach, where a peaceful holiday mood was edged by fears of fresh violence between whites and ethnic Lebanese.

''I don't think there will be any trouble today, not with 2,000 cops around,'' Louise Simpson, a young mother with blonde hair in pig-tails, said beneath a postcard blue sky on Cronulla beach, where the violence first erupted a week ago.

''But what's it going to be like in three or four weeks when the cops go away?'' she added as she walked with her husband and daughter along the beach, with mounted police in the background.

Cronulla's mainly white beachside community burst into rioting on December. 11 after surfers turned on ethnic Lebanese youth whom they blamed for a recent attack on beach lifeguards.

''The moment the cops go, the trouble will start,'' said Troy, 34, a jobless Cronulla surfer who supported the backlash.

The unrest revealed tensions between Sydney's territorial surfing sub-culture, united in surfing shorts and wrap-around sunglasses, and ethnic Lebanese youths from poorer western Sydney who have become regular beachgoers.

''We got a text message from our boys to come down today, but we don't want any trouble,'' said a young ethnic Lebanese man, Ahmad, who wore a camouflage baseball cap backwards and long baggy shorts with a mobile phone clipped to them.

From Punchbowl, an inland suburb of mainly Lebanese immigrants, Ahmad showed the text message: ''All Arabs unite to let the Aussies know we can't be pushed around.''

'WE ARE NOT A RACIST COUNTRY' Police put an extra 500 police on Sydney beaches today, taking the total cordon to about 2,000. They screened cars at dozens of roadblocks, seizing knives, clubs spiked with nails, steel pikes, knuckle-dusters and bottles of petrol. Police said they had found five people north of Cronulla today with a 25-litre drum of petrol in their car, as well as condoms for making fire bombs. They also found two men with bottles of petrol on a Bondi bus.

''We will continue this operation for as long as it takes,'' New South Wales state police commissioner Ken Moroney told reporters, adding that 60 arrests had been made since Friday.

Overnight, four men hit a 32-year-old man with an iron bar near an east Sydney beach, police said. Text-message threats of racial violence also sparked seaside police patrols at opposite sides of the country, in the east-coast tourist mecca of the Gold Coast and on the west-coast beaches of Perth.

Police suspect the Sydney unrest has drawn in white supremacists from around Australia and say some of the men arrested for carrying weapons have driven to Sydney from other states.

The violence has hurt Australia's image, rekindling old stereotypes of white Australians as racist, opposition Leader Kim Beazley said. ''We are not a racist country,'' he told local media.

In central Sydney, almost 2,000 people held a ''United Against Racism'' rally. Some blamed Australian involvement in the US-led invasion of Iraq for a growing divide between whites and Muslims.

''I have lived here for a long time but now I feel very terrified and scared to walk down the street,'' said Sahar Dib, 44, wearing a headscarf. She and thousands of other Lebanese fled to Australia in the 1970s when civil war broke out in Lebanon.

In Bondi, normally packed a week before Christmas, police prowled the beach and seaborne special forces patrolled the water.

''Bondi has never been this quiet. It's sad to see such an icon of Australia not being used because it's here for everyone,'' said Dave Byron, taking part in a barbecue and surfing contest.

[Felix the Cat]

(Gotta watch those dangerous racists with slingshots...)

'Supremacist' to face court (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17615584-2,00.html)

POLICE have charged one of a group of alleged white supremacists with possessing an unauthorised pistol and preparing to use a disguise to commit a crime.

The charges were laid yesterday after police raided five homes in Sydney and Wollongong in the wake of a weekend crackdown and 12 days of racial tension across Sydney.

The man, 25-year-old Andrew Sanders, from the western Sydney suburb of Willmot, will appear in Penrith Local Court this morning. Police will allege they seized smoke grenades, a pistol, an ammunition re-loading machine, knives and a slingshot from his home yesterday.

Police said on Sunday Mr Sanders was one of five men who were found with a 25-litre drum of petrol and implements used in the manufacture of molotov cocktails in their car at Brighton-le-Sands, south of Sydney. White supremacist literature was also allegedly found in the car.

[raven]

This is bullshit. I say the Aussie surfer gangs and the Muslim Leb gangs should throw a cocktail party. :D Burn those towelhead gangbangers alive! :222:

[Geist]

Just wanted to say I was quite proud of the Aussies on this one, who cares if people say they are racist once they stand up to people who gang rape their women or should I say teenage girls.

[Anarch]

Alan Jones not to blame says Costello
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/alan-jones-not-to-blame-says-costello/2005/12/20/1135031993062.html
December 20, 2005 - 12:09PM


Racism in Australia can easily be "whipped up", says Treasurer Peter Costello, but he does not blame the media.

Mr Costello said today gangs of youths had incited racism in Sydney, but said the local media was not responsible for fanning the flames.

"I think racism can be easily whipped up in Australia," Mr Costello said.

"I don't think there's racism on the street, no, I think we're a very accepting country," he told ABC Radio.

Sydney talkback radio personalities, including Macquarie Radio's Alan Jones, have been accused of fuelling racial tensions in the wake of the recent Cronulla riot.

Asked if he thought Jones "went too far", Mr Costello said he did not.

"That's not what I mean by whipping up," Mr Costello said.

"I think it can be fanned if gangs of youths come into a neighbourhood and try and take it over. That can fan racism.

"If people, say, get down and launch an attack, a counter attack on gangs of youths, they can whip it up. It can be whipped up from both sides."

Mr Costello also said those who wore the Australian flag while engaging in street violence were desecrating it.

"The Australian flag should unite, it should not divide the Australian public," he said.

Mr Costello said the best way to contain racist undercurrents was to enforce the law . . . and give young people good job opportunities.

- AAP

[Anarch]

ROFLMAO. 'I wanted to sniff petrol'. Looks like the Muslims are taking after the abo's.

Two differ on why petrol was on bus
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/two-differ-on-why-petrol-was-on-bus/2005/12/19/1134840798492.html
Sydney
December 20, 2005

TWO men found with two bottles of petrol on a Sydney bus gave police different excuses — one said he was helping a mate who had run out of fuel and the other said he wanted to sniff it.

Amir Ali Osmanagic, 18, from Melbourne's Dandenong, and Parham Esmailpour, 19, of Carlingford, in Sydney's north-west, appeared in court charged with affray and possessing an offensive implement with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Both were arrested on Sunday amid a police crackdown to stop a new outbreak of race violence.

Esmailpour and Osmanagic, allegedly boarded a bus to Bondi from the city with two 800-millilitre bottles filled with petrol. Police were notified after the bus driver smelled petrol.

The court was told that officers who boarded the bus found Osmanagic with the petrol, a rail ticket from Liverpool, a bus ticket to Bondi and a pamphlet reading: "Howard's riots — how racist policies breed racist violence".

Esmailpour, who had a rail ticket from Epping, was alleged to have bought the petrol in the same north-west suburb.

Prosecutor Senior Constable Brad Scanlan said Osmanagic had told police he had the petrol to help a friend whose car had run out of petrol at Bondi.

"Why did his friend need petrol from Liverpool when there are numerous petrol stations in the city?" Senior Constable Scanlan asked the court.

He said Esmailpour told police he wanted to sniff the petrol. "Petrol is available in Bondi. One doesn't have to ride all the way to Bondi to sniff petrol," Senior Constable Scanlan said.

Magistrate Lee Anne Gilmour refused Osmanagic bail. He is to reappear on Wednesday for further consideration of bail.

Noting that Esmailpour had no prior offences, she granted him bail, applying a curfew and a beach ban, also ordering him to appear again on Wednesday.

Outside court, Esmailpour said "no comment" when asked why the men's stories had differed, and what opinions he held about Sydney's racial violence.

Harry Scott, 21, from Narwee, in southern Sydney, was bailed after being charged over his alleged role in the Cronulla riots on December 11.

Police told the court Scott was arrested after he was identified from TV footage as the attacker of a woman and two men whom police were trying to protect. The TV footage had also shown him attacking a man on a train at Cronulla station, police said.

Scott was granted bail and told to appear on February 9.

Police have charged 163 people with 290 offences since the riots. Police have confiscated 37 mobile phones and 15 vehicles under new laws passed last week.

Four alleged white supremacists questioned over a drum of petrol and materials for petrol bombs found in their car in Brighton-le-Sands on Sunday were yesterday released without charge. But subsequent raids across Sydney and Wollongong netted weapons including a pistol, smoke bombs, ammunition and smokek grenades, resulting in one of the four, aged 25, being arrested. He faces seven charges and will be in court today.

The released men also carried commando-style utility belts, dust helmets, police scanners and portable radios. A fifth man, a 17-year-old from Keiraville, in Wollongong, was charged on Sunday with being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence. Police stress that investigations continue.

Premier Morris Iemma expressed disappointment with some being bailed, after the law was changed last week to reverse the presumption of bail for the offences of riot and affray.

AAP

[raven]

ROFLMAO. 'I wanted to sniff petrol'. Looks like the Muslims are taking after the abo's.

The aborigines sniff gas over there too? :D

[Anarch]

Yep. And they have a past time called 'chroming' as well. http://www.reachout.com.au/default.asp?ti=1311

[Anarch]

White supremacist crackdown call
December 20, 2005 - 5:00PM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/white-supremacist-crackdown-call/2005/12/20/1135032001455.html

NSW Premier Morris Iemma has asked police to investigate possible action against the makers of white supremacist videos, which are being circulated on the internet.

Mr Iemma said videos encouraging white supremacist action had been referred to Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, and police would crack down on anyone breaking the law.

His warnings follow race-related attacks in Sydney beach suburbs, which have led to the charging of 163 people with 283 offences.

The videos, which depict race-bashed bashings and carry slogans such as "Not White, not welcome in Cronulla", are being downloaded from the website Stormfront.

"Where they [the makers] break the law, the law will be enforced and they will be brought to justice," Mr Iemma said today.

A Sydney court granted bail today to a Sydney security guard who was carrying petrol and was tuned in to a white supremacist radio frequency when police stopped him at a roadblock.

Andrew Sanders, 25, was arrested during a police raid on his Willmot home yesterday after he and four others were stopped at a road block in his car at Brighton-le-Sands on Sunday.

Sanders was initially released without charge but was arrested again after police found an unlicensed pistol, smoke grenades, mace and capsicum spray in his bedroom during the raid on his house.

During Sanders' appearance in Penrith Local Court today, police prosecutor Jonathan Falzon said the security guard had frequented the white supremacist website www.fightback.org.au and was tuned into channel 20 on a portable radio when police stopped his car on Sunday afternoon.

Fightback had posted a message calling for a protest on that day and those interested should tune their radios to channel 20 and "show that we are not afraid," Mr Falzon said.

Sanders has been charged with five counts of possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit, possessing an unauthorised pistol, and possessing a means of disguising his face with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Magistrate Ian McRae said the case had received "particular attention" from the media because of recent events.

But he said if he disregarded the charge of possessing a disguise, which brought him under new bail provisions, the offences were not serious enough to refuse him bail.

"I can only conclude at the end of the day that the prospect of that charge being sustained or a conviction recorded on the evidence before the courts at this point in time is somewhat remote," Mr McRae said.

Mr Falzon said one of the four other men pulled over in the car told police one of the occupants had said "let's go bash some Lebs".

"It's apparent that there are racial motivations behind what transpired there at Brighton," Mr Falzon told the court.

He said a 25 litre drum of petrol, gloves, a first aid kit, a knife, utility belt, masks, police riot helmets and documentation relating to the Fightback website and the Cronulla riot were found in the car.

One two-way radio and portable radios tuned to channel 20 were also located in the car, he said.

Mr Falzon called on Mr McRae to refuse Sanders bail on the grounds there were fears for the safety and welfare of the community.

But defence lawyer Phil Gibson said the prosecution case was weak and denied Sanders was a white supremacist.

Mr Gibson said the Fightback website was merely a collection of links to news articles about the riot.

He said there was no proof that Sanders was ever going to do anything.
"None of the offences for which he was charged involve him doing anything. They all revolve squarely on the concept of possession," Mr Gibson said.

In particular, Mr Gibson said, the charge of possessing a disguise was unlikely to stand on the evidence, and had been brought by police to bring the charges against Sanders within the jurisdiction of new anti-riot laws.

Agreeing to conditional bail, Mr McRae said: "The community protection to my mind is something which can be properly addressed by this court in terms of bail."

He ordered that Sanders must reside at his Willmot address, must not leave home other than in the company of his mother, must report daily to police and should not communicate with the other men who had accompanied him in the car.

Sanders was ordered to surrender a surety of $1,000 and to reappear in the court on January 27.

Speaking outside court, Sanders' lawyer Phil Gibson commended Mr McRae's decision.

"Maybe (Sanders) is stupid, maybe he participates in some unusual recreational activities, but does that put him in a position where he's locked up while these charges are pending?" Mr Gibson told reporters.

"My opinion is they shouldn't and obviously the magistrate agreed with me.

"I think everybody's under pressure in the current environment but thankfully, the magistrate today has been able to examine the facts and apply the law appropriately."

AAP

[Anarch]

Plan to saturate city with police
Jonathan Porter
December 16, 2005
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17583853%255E2702,00.html

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney pleaded for "the spirit of Christmas" to be restored in Sydney as plans were put in place to saturate the city's flashpoint suburbs with 1000 extra police tomorrow and 1500 on Sunday.

Mr Moroney's decision to send more than 10per cent of the state's police force on to the streets on Sunday came after new laws, which he had personally requested from the Iemma Government to restore order across the beleaguered city, were passed by the state's lower house after less than 1 1/2 hours' debate.

"I want people to enjoy the spirit of Christmas. I think in the last 10 days or so the spirit of Christmas rode out of this town," Mr Moroney said.
Mr Moroney's call came as John Howard said now was "not the time" to look for underlying reasons for the troubles.
Hailing Premier Morris Iemma's tough new laws, the Prime Minister said police should have the ability to maintain order and protect people from intimidating behaviour.


Recent attacks on churches and a religious school in the city's southwest were "particularly repugnant" and should be "utterly and unconditionally condemned", he said.

"What we have to try to do is calm everybody down, change the law where necessary, support the police and then reflect in the weeks ahead as to what some of the fundamental reasons are," Mr Howard said.

Mr Moroney also called on people to go to the beach if they wanted to and to enjoy themselves this weekend. His call came after 10 days of unrest following the bashing of lifeguards at Cronulla by a group of men of Middle Eastern descent.

A riot at Cronulla last Sunday was beamed around the world and was followed by roaming Middle Eastern gangs bashing Caucasians across the city.

Despite the passage of the tough laws, state Opposition Leader Peter Debnam accused the Government of being soft on Lebanese gangs because Mr Iemma was "indebted to some ethnic groups".

Mr Iemma's seat, Lakemba, has one of the nation's biggest concentrations of Arab-Australians.

The laws, which give police broad powers to "lock down" areas if senior officers order it, passed both houses of parliament yesterday afternoon after a debate of less than five hours in both houses, and will be available to police this weekend.

The measures include removing the presumption of bail for rioting and banning the sale and consumption of alcohol in nominated areas for up to two days.

Police will now be able to cordon off locked down areas and prevent vehicles from entering them, stop and search people and vehicles, and seize vehicles and mobile phones for up to a week.

They will also be able to demand that passengers in cars provide personal details.

Lockdowns will last up to 48 hours, unless extended by the Supreme Court. The Ombudsman will oversee the lockdown laws, which have a two-year sunset clause.
The NSW Law Society said the new laws went too far and could end up being used to jail innocent bystanders.

[Felix the Cat]

Charges over racial text messages (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/charges-over-racial-text-messages/2005/12/22/1135032129832.html)

A 33-year-old Sydney man has became the first person charged over the circulation of text messages inciting racial violence in the aftermath of the Cronulla riot.

Police allege the man repeatedly forwarded two text messages calling for people to meet at two Sydney beaches on December 18 - a week after a violent race riot on north Cronulla beach.

The man, of southeast suburban Matraville, was charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, as well as one count of printing, publishing to incite or urging the commission of a crime.

He was granted bail to appear in Waverley Local Court on February 1.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully this week said federal authorities were confident they could trace the source of several text messages that circulated across the country in the days following the December 11 Cronulla race riot.

The first charges over the messages coincided with the launch today of an advertising campaign fronted by high-profile sportspeople and aimed at bringing people back to Sydney's beaches following the recent race and alcohol-fuelled riot and unrest.

Former Cronulla Sharks captain Andrew Ettingshausen is one of several stars recruited for the NSW government-funded, $250,000 print and radio tourism campaign designed to promote Sydney's beach suburbs as safe for everyone.

The campaign also will feature swimmer Susie Maroney, Sydney Swans star Nick Davis, retired Cronulla Sharks prop Jason Stevens and former Wallaby Mark Ella.

The announcement came as the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board reported a massive increase in complaints of discrimination and vilification following the racial unrest that has gripped Sydney following the Cronulla riot.

Some 5,000 people, including racist elements, converged on the beach suburb on December 11, harassing people of Middle Eastern origin in a violent backlash over the bashing of young lifesavers and years of incidents involving Lebanese gangs.

The board's president, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said there had been 42 complaints since December 12 - up from 24 in the same period last year.

Also today, a 17-year-old became the fifth person charged over a violent attack aboard a train on the day of the Cronulla riot.

The teenager was charged with riot and affray and refused bail to appear in Bidura Children's Court tomorrow.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney had warned people to stay away from Sydney's beaches last weekend after the riot at Cronulla and revenge attacks by Middle Eastern gangs in other suburbs.

But Prime Minister John Howard today said he did not expect racial violence to flare in Sydney over the holidays.

"I really am quite optimistic that people will see that nothing is ever achieved by violence," he said.

"I would encourage Australians to enjoy their Christmas as they traditionally do."

Cronulla businesses say they have suffered significant losses since violence erupted, with reports that takings are down as much as 75 per cent.

They welcomed today's announcement of the advertising campaign and said trade was starting to pick up.

"We were looking for compensation but really we were looking for assistance and we're happy with the result," Cronulla Chamber of Commerce president Rob Stanley-Jones said.

But Opposition tourism spokeswoman Katrina Hodgkinson said the campaign did not go far enough and needed to include television advertisements to get the message across.

Police will use new beach buggies introduced today to patrol Sydney's beaches this summer, boosting police mobility when dealing with violent and anti-social behaviour.

The government already has promised 800 "additional" officers will patrol beaches throughout the Christmas-New Year holiday period to prevent further violence.

Police also are continuing to investigate the text messages linked to the city's unrest.

[Anarch]

Riot 'ringleader' goes into hiding: reports
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/riot-ringleader-goes-into-hiding-reports/2005/12/27/1135445533911.html
December 27, 2005 - 1:11AM


An alleged ringleader of the Cronulla race riot has fled his home, believing there is a contract on his life.

Sutherland Shire construction worker Glen Steele, who led anti-Lebanese chants as racial unrest gripped Sydney on December 11, and his family have gone into hiding, according to newspaper reports.

"I have heard that I've got a contract on me so the best thing for me is to stay out and hopefully it will blow over, over time," Mr Steele was quoted as saying.

"I don't want to say any more. The police want me to keep quiet."

The 42-year-old father of two fled his Cronulla property a week ago after receiving death threats, the newspapers reported.

Mr Steele and his family were living at a secret location and were deciding whether to return to Cronulla, the papers said.

Mr Steele defended his actions on December 11, saying he and others were standing up to gangs that had been causing problems for several years.

AAP