• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Christmas security crackdown on Sydney beaches

Posted on: Sunday, 18 December 2005, 21:45 CST

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A security crackdown on Sydney's beaches will be extended over Christmas after further racial violence over the weekend was averted with police arresting seven men with Molotov cocktails and confiscating scores of weapons.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said on Monday that as calm returned to the beaches, police numbers would be reduced -- but 800 officers would be scheduled on duty until the end of January to deal with the threat of violence.

"I will continue this operation for as long as it takes to bring about that restoration of order," Moroney told reporters.

In the biggest security operation since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, some 2,000 police patrolled beaches on foot and horseback and in cars and boats in three cities on Sunday.

Beaches, normally packed with tourists a week before Christmas, were almost deserted and beachside cafes half empty.

A decision is yet be made on whether to allow Bondi Beach's famous Christmas Day beach party, which attracts thousands of backpacking foreign tourists, to go ahead, said New South Wales state premier Morris Iemma. Several beach Christmas parties, some held by volunteer surf lifeguards, have already been canceled.

"This is a fight for order and control of our streets," Iemma told a news conference. "There are hooligans out there who believe they have the right to determine who goes to beaches and streets and who will control parts of our parks and our streets."

"That is not something we can tolerate," he said.

ALCOHOL Fueled

Racial violence first flared on December 11 on Sydney's southern beach of Cronulla, a mainly white beachside community. A large crowd stirred on by white supremacists and fueled with alcohol turned on anyone of Middle East appearance.

The crowd said they were defending their beach from ethnic Lebanese youth whom they blamed for a recent attack on life guards. Lebanese youths retaliated over two nights, attacking people and vandalizing cars in several suburbs.

Although calm returned to Sydney late last week, mobile telephone text messages continued to call for more racial violence. Police warned people to stay away from beaches in three cities -- Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.

They "locked down" Sydney's Bondi Beach and the suburb of Brighton-le-Sands near Sydney airport on Sunday after people were arrested carrying Molotov cocktails.

Five people north of Cronulla had a 25-liter (5-gallon) drum of petrol in their car, as well as condoms for making Molotov cocktails, police said. They also found two men with bottles of petrol on a Bondi bus.

Police at roadblocks also seized scores of knives, clubs spiked with nails, steel pikes and knuckle-dusters.

"We feel that the police...have stopped potential disasters from happening in and around our beachside suburbs," Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told local television.

Scipione said he hoped Sydney would return to normality this week in the run up to Christmas on December 25.

"Our intelligence at the moment tells us we would be expecting to be going back to a normal situation," he said. "But we need to make sure we remain vigilant."

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category