Posted on 12/11/2005 8:05:31 PM PST by staytrue
December 12, 2005
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.
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Oh Lord, kumbaya
Diversity
Coming soon to a town near you.
ROFLOL
The islamic revolution, coming soon to a city near you.
How long has this been brewing before it erupted and how widespead is this? There's nothing online on MSN or FOX. I thought Australia was supposed to be liberal. Whatever happened to tolerance and multiculturalism?
Fed up with the ROP crap including 'culturai' gang rape.
Any people that teaches its sons to rape your daughters needs a serious butt-whooping and it does Australia proud that there are still among them those with the guts to do it.
It almost sounds like a college post game riot that really got out of control. No shootings for example. But a lot of drunken obnoxious out of control behavior.
Beach Blanket BANG-O!
Time to rewatch my DVD of Russell Crowe's early film "Romper Stomper", about skinhead violence in Australia.
Amen!
"Los Angeles is next."
I'm thinking Detroit.
Not if Tookie takes the ride.
Surf Gang?
NZfromHK can maybe shed light on this matter?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.