If this story holds up, it could spell big trouble for the NSW Government and the Police Commissioner:

Senior police today pledged to keep up their presence on Sydney's streets as members of a Muslim youth group and the surf movement held peace talks on the boardwalk at Cronulla.

But a leaked document has indicated that police were not equipped to respond to Monday'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 trouble spots – 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 report showed 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 network said.

The report said "a direction was given to police about midnight not to enter the area and antagonise these persons".

I call for the 48-hour rule on this, though.

(via comments at Tim Blair's)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:19 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)