![]() Police in Sydney given power to 'lock down'
By Michael Perry
Lebanese and Muslim youths retaliated with two nights of violence in several different beachside suburbs. For the past two nights Sydney has been calm, with more than 450 police patrolling streets and erecting roadblocks to check drivers moving into areas of previous unrest. Racist SMSes and emails continue to circulate calling for violence this Sunday, despite calls from leaders of surfing and Arab-Muslim communities for calm. NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney urged people on Thursday to ensure Sydney remained peaceful and to bring the spirit of Christmas back to the city.
Moroney said an extra one thousand police would be on duty on Saturday and an extra 1 500 on Sunday to prevent violence. He said police were ready to immediately use their new powers, which also allows them to stop and search people and vehicles and seize vehicles and mobile telephones. But Moroney urged people to go about their normal end-of-year activities this weekend, including going to the beach. "There's no restriction on going to the beach," he said. "There are certainly legal restrictions if you are going to engage in unlawful conduct, riotous behaviour, assault malicious damage or whatever the case may be."
Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-12-15 00:09:03
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