Ambrosio Spinola
12-12-2005, 09:19 AM
5000 Strong alcohol induced mob?
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Strike-force-to-tackle-Cronulla-racists/2005/12/12/1134235996148.html
Sydney police were on Monday night 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 on Monday night, encouraging retaliation for Sunday's clashes at beachside suburbs including Cronulla and Maroubra.
Sixteen people were charged on Sunday after a 5,000-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 Sunday'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 on Monday 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 on Monday and vowed to restore harmony.
But on Monday night, 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 on Monday night 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 Sunday'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.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Strike-force-to-tackle-Cronulla-racists/2005/12/12/1134235996148.html
Sydney police were on Monday night 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 on Monday night, encouraging retaliation for Sunday's clashes at beachside suburbs including Cronulla and Maroubra.
Sixteen people were charged on Sunday after a 5,000-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 Sunday'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 on Monday 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 on Monday and vowed to restore harmony.
But on Monday night, 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 on Monday night 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 Sunday'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.