Faces of fear at the beach Ellen Whinnett 14dec05 THEY are blonde, tanned and wearing designer surfie labels, and they claim the beach as their own. Pictures
Sarah, 20, and Melanie, 22, despise the Lebanese Australian community and are happy to say so.
They drove from nearby Engadine to wave the Australian flag at North Cronulla and make a statement against the Lebanese community.
"This is our beach and we're here to claim it back," Melanie said.
"You can't go to the beach without the Lebs yelling stuff out.
"Because of that we've come here to take it back."
Both young women say they will answer a text-message call to rally at Cronulla on Sunday and intimidate any Australians of Lebanese descent who dare to show up.
"They're taking over our beach," Melanie said.
"They've got their own beach at Brighton, they can go back there.
"They took over La Perouse and now they've taken over Brighton."
Sarah said she believed she had the right to wave the Australian flag as a way of supporting Australian culture.
But the RSL is horrified the flag has been seized on by mobs involved in Sydney's race riots.
Across Cronulla angry locals are defiantly hanging flags in windows and over balconies.
Young men wave flags from car windows as they chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi."
NSW RSL president Don Rowe said he was also disgusted by reports that men of Lebanese descent had torn down and burnt a flag at Brighton-Le-Sands.
"That really disgusts us and it should be a criminal offence for anyone who desecrates the Australian flag," Mr Rowe said.
Youths were heading for Cronulla beach last night despite a heavy police presence to prevent a repeat of the violent scenes on Monday night, when carloads of Lebanese Australians ran amok, smashing windows and cars and beating passers-by.
Locals last night set up what they called "Leb Watch", a twist on the traditional Neighbourhood Watch concept.
Young men parked in vehicles along the main roads into Cronulla watching for men of Middle Eastern appearance and alerting others further down the road to be ready for them.