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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Police guard churches as tension rises Police guard churches as tension rises By Samantha Baden POLICE will pay "special attention" to religious venues after a spate of attacks on places of worship linked to race-fuelled violence. Religious leaders called for unity and calm as text messages and emails, similar to those which promoted Sydney's violence earlier this week, spread to other states. The NSW parliament will convene today for an emergency session to pass new police laws allowing authorities to lock down trouble spots, seize cars and turn off alcohol. Police in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia said copycat text messages and emails calling for unrest had been circulating. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said he believed there would not be any support for racial unrest on the Gold Coast, where text messages have called for people to start "cracking skulls". In Sydney, hundreds of police continued to patrol flashpoint suburbs in the city's south and west last night following violence sparked by an attack on surf lifesavers and Sunday's subsequent race riot at Cronulla. The riots were followed by two nights of retaliatory "smash-and-bash" attacks in Maroubra, Cronulla and Brighton-le-Sands. A leaked document has indicated that police were not equipped to respond to Monday evening's violence in Cronulla, in which people were assaulted and cars, shopfronts and windows were smashed. The Seven Network said it had obtained a police incident report instructing officers to stay away from one of the areas - believed to be Punchbowl Park in Sydney's west - on Monday night. The park is believed to have been the meeting place for scores of men who formed a vehicle convoy which drove to Cronulla unimpeded by police. The network claimed the report showed some of those in the crowd were suspected of being Middle Eastern criminals who had been involved in malicious damage and civil disobedience offences throughout the Sutherland Shire. The report is believed to have said "a direction was given to police about midnight not to enter the area and antagonise these persons". In separate incidents, a Uniting Church hall in Auburn was burned to the ground on Tuesday night, while the nearby St Thomas' Anglican Church had windows smashed at about the same time. A spokesman for the NSW Uniting Church, Jim Mein, said yesterday members of the mainly Tongan congregation at the Harold Wood Auburn Uniting Church were bewildered by the attack. Police are treating the blaze as suspicious and Mr Iemma has said "it may be" linked to the recent race-fuelled violence in Sydney. Mr Iemma said today he was not aware of any past tensions related to the church or its activities in the Auburn area. But he said the incident showed the need to monitor places of worship during the current unrest. "Special attention will be paid to places of worship, our churches and our schools," Mr Iemma said. "Obviously we have to be on guard for this, and these hooligans and criminals will not destroy the fabric of our society," he said. Amjad Ali Mehboob of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said worshippers at Omar Mosque in Auburn would hold a solidarity meeting at the Uniting Church after Friday prayers. The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, condemned the violence, saying "faith leaders will have much to do in their communities to assist".
Poster Comment: "a direction was given to police about midnight not to enter the area and antagonise these persons" After all, they might shoot back!
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: Tauzero (#0)
Isn't socially engineered diversity wonderful?
#2. To: Dakmar, Eoghan, wbales (#1)
I'd like to know how the violence really started. Who benefits? And which nation has been causing trouble lately?
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