Armed gangs on rampage

Into the arms of the law ... police make arrests in Cronulla last
night. Gangs descended on the suburb intent on mayhem.
Photo: Steven Siewert
SYDNEY erupted in a second night of racial violence last night as Middle Eastern mobs stabbed a woman, assaulted others and smashed shops around Cronulla, while up to 600 young men - armed with guns and crowbars - prepared for a battle.
In a terrifying escalation of the conflict, police tried to block Tom Ugly's Bridge and The Kingsway leading to Cronulla as a convoy of up to 70 cars from Hurstville attempted to invade the beachside suburb to seek revenge for attacks by Cronulla locals at a rally on Sunday.
Twenty carloads of men had already arrived at Cronulla by about 10.30pm, smashing shops, and cars in Elouera Road, and threatening people who got in their way. A woman was reportedly stabbed at Carringbah, but her condition was unknown.
About 11.30pm a group of about 100 Cronulla locals surrounded a car containing men of Middle Eastern appearance, but police cleared the crowd and let the car escape.
Hours earlier, about 200 men had assembled outside the Lakemba Mosque - some armed with Glock pistols - and dozens more gathered at Campsie. They were preparing to travel to Maroubra Beach where up to 300 locals, many armed with crowbars, waited for an arranged fight, according to "Bra Boys" at the beach.
But some young Muslims said they had gathered to protect the mosque because of a threatened attack on it by a gang from the southern beaches.
In the wake of Sunday's bloody riot at Cronulla beach - when local mobs had bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance - police confiscated iron bars and other weapons at Maroubra last night and blocked roads around the mosque. About 20 police cars surrounded the mosque, where four men showed their pistols and ammunition to a news crew, and boasted that other men were carrying arms.
At 10.45pm, on the Kingsway at Caringbah, about 12 cars sped by, followed by another vehicle that stopped. Four men got out and began attacking patrons of Antonio's Pizzeria. They knocked a woman unconscious on the footpath and smashed the window of a denture clinic.
A Thai-born woman, Suchada Goodier, 44, owner of a Thai restaurant on the Kingsway, said she was walking on the street when she was attacked for no reason. The group then started bashing her car. "What have I done?" she said. "I have done nothing."
In Bay Street, Brighton-le-Sands, a young woman was sitting in a car when men approached and opened the door to her vehicle and put a hand up her dress, saying: "We are going to rape you, you Aussie sluts."
A witness, Linda El-Hassan, 19, said a shot was fired at the woman's car but she was not injured. Miss El-Hassan said she was Lebanese and opposed the violence. "We all came to this country and we are all one in this country."
Bay Street was strewn with rubbish and a government bus was attacked and its back window smashed. A large number of police gathered in Bay Street, where a senior officer was heard to say: "Let's get our [riot] gear on and smash 'em."
At the Lakemba Mosque earlier, a media crew had been involved in an altercation with some in the crowd about 7pm. A man is believed to have suffered a broken leg during a scuffle.
Islamic leaders tried to calm the crowd, imploring the men over a loudspeaker to go inside and pray. Outside the Maroubra Bay Hotel, police dressed in riot gear prepared for any violence.
A Channel Seven reporter, Robert Ovadia, was surrounded by a group who menaced him, spat in his face, threatened to head-butt him and told him that the media had stirred up all the trouble. Mr Ovadia called police, who sent a patrol car. The Herald's reporter at Maroubra retreated under a hail of water bombs.
The Bra Boys had told the media they were not welcome.
Police said there was evidence of text and email messages promoting another confrontation at Cronulla next Sunday.
One email, obtained by the Herald, congratulates those involved in Sunday's riots but warns of armed retaliation. "This is only the beginning, this is a start of the war! Leb's n wog's won't stand for this and will start singling out the aussies and gang bashing them with drawn weapons. We must continue to come together to help the innocent and family's so everyone can enjoy our beach's!"
Mr Iemma said Sunday had exposed the "ugly face of racism in Australia". But John Howard said: "I believe yesterday's behaviour was completely unacceptable but I'm not going to put a general tag [of] racism on the Australian community ... I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people."
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