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| Sunday, 18 December 2005 |
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Police block beaches fearing violence SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Australian police set up road blocks and searched cars heading for Sydney's beaches on Saturday to prevent a second weekend of racial violence between ethnic Lebanese youths and local surfers. Australians have been told to stay away from beaches in three cities this weekend, especially Sydney where the checkpoints created traffic jams and left some of the city's summer playgrounds subdued on a sweltering day a week before Christmas. "This is not a normal weekend," Deputy Commissioner Andrew Scipione of New South Wales state police told reporters, adding that about 1,500 police were deployed to trouble spots. "If nothing was to happen this weekend, we would deem our operation a success." The clashes erupted last weekend in Cronulla beach, in Sydney's south, where thousands of white Australians attacked people of Middle East appearance and Lebanese and Muslim youths retaliated with two nights of violence. Cronulla was quiet on Saturday, with just a sprinkling of sun-worshippers and surfers, but Scipione said police had "strong intelligence" that some groups planned disruptions on Sunday, possibly including neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups. |
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