Australia: Laws passed to help curb race-based violence

New South Wales state parliament passed emergency laws today empowering police to crack down on race rioters after several days and nights of unrest plagued Sydney’s southern beach suburbs.

Meanwhile, Sydney police arrested 11 suspects last night on charges including possession of offensive weapons such as baseball bats, brass knuckles, a metal pole and a wooden club.

A mob of 5,000 white youths, many of them drunk, descended on Sydney’s southern Cronulla Beach on Sunday, fought a series of skirmishes with police and attacked people of Arab appearance.

The racial violence continued for three nights, escalating into retaliatory attacks and vandalism on churches, prompting New South Wales parliament to halt its summer recess for an emergency session today.

The new police powers will come into effect once the governor grants his approval, probably later today.

Under the law, police will be able to cordon off trouble spots and prevent vehicles from entering those areas for up to 48 hours. They will also be allowed to stop and search people and vehicles, and seize vehicles and mobile phones for up to seven days.

Police have also been given the power to stop bars in trouble spots from selling alcohol for up to two days and to declare areas alcohol-free zones in the city.

Parliament also increased the maximum sentence for rioting from 10 years to 15 years and the sentence for affray was doubled to 10 years.

State Premier Morris Iemma said the new laws were designed to protect the silent majority of law-abiding Australians from hoodlums.

“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,” he said in parliament.

“Order will be upheld. Our streets and suburbs will be kept safe. Our police will be backed to the hilt,” he added.

Police fear more violence this weekend and say an extra 1,000 officers will be deployed to Sydney’s southern suburbs on Saturday and 1,500 more on Sunday.

Kevin Schreiber, the mayor of Sutherland Shire, which includes Cronulla, supported the new laws but said police powers were not the answer to the local racial tensions.

“We need the government’s assistance in getting the message out there that the beaches are there to share,” Schreiber said in a statement.

“This needs to be a multi-faceted media campaign that also addresses other key social issues including the need to accept basic cultural difference,” he added.

In a show of religious unity, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils along with local Muslim groups will meet tomorrow at a Protestant church in the suburb of Auburn, where a church hall was destroyed on Tuesday night in an arson attack suspected to be linked to the racial violence.

State Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said the riots had destroyed the festive season for Australia’s largest city.

“The spirit of Christmas has simply disappeared out of this city and it is up to all of us, not only the police, but people of goodwill, to bring the spirit of Christmas back into this city,” Moroney told reporters.

Moroney said police were ready to use their new powers.