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| Down Under |
| Melbourne Lebanese heading to Sydney for riots |
| 2005-12-15 |
| LEBANESE youths and ethnic "lions" from Melbourne are preparing to join Sydney's race riots, with busloads of troublemakers rumoured to be heading north. Expectations among the young Lebanese community in western Sydney that further trouble will develop over the weekend comes despite calls from their religious leaders, police and politicians for both sides to calm down. One 22-year-old ethnic Lebanese man yesterday told The Australian he and his friends were ready for a turf war. "The boys reckon it'll be like a scene out of Braveheart," he said. Sources within the Lebanese community said three busloads of young men from Melbourne - Lebanese, Serbians, Italians and Greeks - and more than 30 carloads were expected to arrive in Sydney today and tomorrow. "I've talked to a few mates in Melbourne and I know that some of my other buddies have too," said a 29-year-old Lebanese man from Lidcombe, in Sydney's west. "We're expecting about 30 cars and a couple of busloads of Leb, Serb, Italian and Greek lions to punch on with us." A Melbourne nightclub bouncer of Bosnian extraction also said word was "getting around" about groups of young men heading to Sydney to fight. NSW police last night expressed concern about the possibility ethnic numbers would be bolstered by interstate visitors. A Victorian police spokesman said the force was "monitoring the situation" but had no specific information about the plan. Prominent Melbourne Muslim leader Waleed Aly yesterday discouraged his community from joining the fray. "It's a stupid thing to do," he said. Gold Coast police are also bracing for trouble on Sunday, boosting on-duty numbers after text messages urged locals to "crack some skulls". Police contingency plans have been made despite Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's view the text messages were a hoax. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #1 good time to bait a trap. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-12-15 21:59 |