Mass police presence 'prevented more race riots'

A heavy police presence at beaches in southern Sydney over the weekend prevented a repeat of racial violence that rocked the city a week ago and headed off potential tragedies, a senior officer said today.

About 2,000 police took part in a major operation to maintain public order, stopping, checking and sometimes confiscating cars.

“We feel that the police have been involved to the point where we have stopped potential disasters from happening in and around our beachside suburbs, so we are confident we averted potentially major tragedies,” New South Wales state assistant police commissioner Andrew Scipione told television’s Nine Network.

Police also confiscated several weapons and arrested a group of five men they said were suspected white supremacists who had a large drum of petrol in their car along with helmets and police radio scanners.

“Even though we had those large numbers (of police) we still had people trying to get through these areas and that tells us that they were determined,” Scipione said.

In a week-long crackdown to stop and prevent racial violence, police have charged 149 people with 264 offences. Officers also have seized 27 mobile phones and 15 cars.

New South Wales political leader Morris Iemma said police would maintain a heavy presence around the troubled beaches for as long as necessary – the city is gearing up for the Australian summer holidays when the beaches are at their busiest.

“This is a fight for order and control of our streets,” Iemma told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

The police build-up followed a December 11 riot by thousands of white youths, many of them drunk, to protest at the beating a week earlier of two volunteer lifeguards on Cronulla beach by a group of men identified by witnesses as of Lebanese descent.

The afternoon riot was followed by two nights of retaliatory violence by youths of Middle Eastern appearance in and around Cronulla.

Several people are due in court today to face charges linked to the rioting and subsequent “lock-down” of several beach suburbs.