New powers for Sydney cops  [ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:31:00 am AP ]
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SYDNEY:
Police in Sydney will be given tough new powers to crack down on rioters who
have rampaged through the city's southern beachside suburbs for two nights, New
South Wales state leader Morris Iemma announced on
Tuesday.
"New South Wales
parliament will be recalled for a special emergency sitting on Thursday morning
to provide police with extra powers to deal with criminals and thugs who are
causing disturbances across our city,"Iemma told reporters.
He was talking after a second
night of race riots left seven people injured and 11 in police custody as youths
in a convoy of cars rampaged through streets smashing store windows and
attacking parked cars.
The men
involved appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, indicating that they were
taking revenge for a riot Sunday during which a mob of 5,000 white men, many
drunk and wrapped in Australian flags, attacked several people of Middle Eastern
appearance near Cronulla beach.
Sunday's fighting came in
retaliation for the beating a week earlier of two volunteer life guards by men
described as being of Lebanese descent. New South Wales Police Minister Carl
Scully said rival groups needed to bring an end to the
violence.
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