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Thursday, December 15, 2005
  News Updated on Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:27:36 PM
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News >> World

Sydney mobs are read the riot act
Sydney | December 15, 2005 3:15:07 PM IST
 
New laws giving police in Sydney the power to close bars and confiscate cars were rushed through parliament Thursday amid frantic efforts by community leaders to head off a repeat of last weekend's outrage, when a drunken mob of white youths in a beachside suburb set upon people of Middle Eastern appearance.

"Louts and criminals have effectively declared war on our society and we are not going to let them undermine our way of life," New South Wales premier Morris Iemma told the state parliament.

The emergency session was called to grant powers that would also let police throw a security cordon around whole suburbs, deny bail to those arrested over mob violence and take away mobile phones.

"As long as these thugs, these hooligans, these hotheads and these criminals disrespect the law, as long as they refuse to show respect and responsibility, these powers will be used to the fullest extent," the premier said. "Order will be upheld, our streets and suburbs will be kept safe, our police will be backed to the hilt."

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, who asked for the heightened powers, said a security presence not seen since the 2000 Olympics would be deployed in Cronulla and neighbouring beachside suburbs at the weekend.

To head off threats of more street battles promised in mobile phone text messages circulating in the city an extra 1,000 police would be on duty Saturday and more than 1,500 Sunday to prevent a reprise of the violence seven days earlier.

As parliament met to check what one member said were "urban terrorists terrorising the community," elders in Sydney's ethnic Lebanese community got together with leaders of the mostly white Cronulla populace to broker a peace deal.

The immediate issue between the two sides was a claim that ethnic Lebanese from outer Sydney suburbs visiting Cronulla at the weekends were commandeering the beach and deliberately frightening locals away.

"The community leaders have a big role to play, the youth has a role to play, the government officials have a role to play," Lebanese Muslim Association leader Ahmad Kamaledine said after huddling with colleagues in Cronulla.

Kamaledine said Muslim leaders had accepted an invitation to be at Cronulla Sunday for the launch of a new surf lifesaving boat.

It was the assault of two surf lifesavers last week by ethnic Lebanese youths that led to the call to arms and the current round of tit-for-tat violence.

More than 30 people have been charged and 25 people injured in nightly clashes. A church hall has been torched, an Anglican church pelted with stones and a row of cars parked outside a primary school where a Christmas carol service was sprayed with bullets.

There are fears that ethnic violence might spread to other big cities.

In Brisbane, Queensland premier Peter Beattie said police leave would be cancelled at the weekend to ensure a heavy security presence in the city.

The exchange of blame for the worse race riots in living memory continued. Roland Jabbour, the chairman of the Australian Arabic Council, cited Australia's involvement in the Gulf War as a reason for anti-Arab sentiment that boiled over into bashings at the weekend.

"We are more than anybody aware of the fringe elements of society that have racist agendas and prejudicial propensities," he said. "Arab-Australians have had to cope for some time with vilification, racism and abuse after numerous international and domestic events."

For his part, Prime Minister John Howard deplored the attacks on churches in a strongly Moslem area of Sydney that threatened to escalate the violence.

"What we have to try to do is calm everybody down, change the law where necessary, support the police and then reflect in the weeks ahead as to what some of the fundamental reasons are," Howard said. "Maybe there were warning signs around that have been ignored that shouldn't have been ignored."

--DPA

(IANS)

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