Posted on 12/12/2005 7:20:29 AM PST by indcons
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.
"Unite now lets show them who's boss "destroy" everything gather at cronulla . . . spread the message to all Arabs."
Police were braced for more violence last night after tension between surfie groups and Lebanese youths spiralled out of control.
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.
ISLAM IS NOT A RACE.
The Aussies aren't french. They play rugby and will put the smack down.
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE
Let them come...the Aussies will put them down if they make good on these threats. Australia is not France.
More correctly, Islam is a filthy death cult.
Thought you might be interested in this muslim "call for arms"
Our greatest strength is our diversity bump.
BTTT
AUSSIE!! AUSSIE!! AUSSIE!! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Kick their arses Aussies!
What's a 'surfie'? A beach bum?
I will put my money on the Aussies. There is going to come a serious fetchin up.
Pre-gang rape warm up ritual, no doubt.
The pol's will probably sic LE on the aussie-kids.
"Unite now lets show them who's boss "destroy" everything gather at cronulla . . . spread the message to all Arabs."
Hang on..this is being blamed on White Supremists?? How about putting the blame on the muslim yoots who are inciting this stuff, not the Aussies who sense their culture is under attack and are on the defensive..
Right. And it doesn't sound as though the Arabs are innocent victims of white supremacists. It takes two to tango. Or at least two sides to rumble.
There are no race riots. Aussies are rightfully retaliating against years of Arab attacks and gang rapes of Australian women. The Brisbane beach assaults were the last straw. Aussie have at long last had enough. God bless them. Drive the Arabs out.
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