Dead criminals supporters maintain the savagery

Video evidence to catch rioters
February 28, 2005
From: AAP



Standoff ... police under attack this morning / Adam Ward
POLICE will use video footage to identify and charge rioters who have clashed with police during the past three following the death of two teenagers in a police car chase.
Four people have already been arrested and three officers injured following the clashes that started on Friday and continued into the early hours of this morning.
Molotov cocktails and rocks were hurled at police overnight in the third straight night of rioting, and police are preparing for a possible fourth night of violence.
The officers were first confronted by 100 people while helping firefighters extinguish a car fire in Telopea Street, one block from the accident scene.
A further 50 people, most disguised by makeshift head wraps, were seen throwing rocks at police.
Three officers were injured. One suffered concussion, another was bitten by a police dog and a third fractured his hand.
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr said today criminal charges were "the answer to behaviour that simply cannot be tolerated".
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Mr Carr condemned the riots and said police would use media footage to identify troublemakers and lay further charges.
Police used this approach last year following the Redfern riot.
"What will happen now, I am advised by the commissioner and the minister, is a process of identification using tapes as happened in Redfern with charges being pressed against people who are seen to have had a hand in this riotous behaviour," Mr Carr said today.
Dyllan Raywood, 17, and Matthew Robertson, 19, died when the stolen car they were in hit a tree during a police chase at Macquarie Fields in south-west Sydney on Friday night.
The driver of the car, whom police say is known to them, fled the scene and has not been found.
Police have defended their actions, saying the officers involved in the chase followed police pursuit protocol.
"We did not engage this conflict," said Superintendent John Sweeney, from Macquarie Fields.
Mr Carr said the youths who died were "persons of interest" to police and were not simply wanted for car theft.
"There was police activity taking place quite unrelated to the pursuit of a stolen car," he said.
The people arrested include a 21-year-old man, charged with rioting, and a 25-year-old man, charged with rioting and carrying an unlawful assembled offensive instrument.
The men, who were treated for dog bites, were refused bail and will appear in Campbelltown Local Court.
A 17-year-old local youth was charged with affray and was refused bail to appear in Reiby Childrens Court, while another youth was cautioned and released.
A 13-year-old boy was detained by police and released into the custody of his mother.
Unwavering support
Mr Carr stuck by the police force, saying the officers had done the best they could under the circumstances.
"I am here today to simply reinforce a message of the Government's unwavering support for the police in the front line and the job they are doing in a very difficult situation," he said.
"There are no excuses for this kind of behaviour and the police have the Government's total support and I believe the community's total support.
"I regret any view that a police pursuit provides justification of riotous behaviour."
The youths' deaths would now be the subject of a coronial inquiry, Mr Carr said.
"That is the opportunity for people to come forward and voice any criticism they may have," he said.
But Mr Carr refused to comment on speculation the riots were a result of the socio-economic situation in Macquarie Fields, which has more than 1000 public housing residences.
"I will not have it said this behaviour is caused by social disadvantage," Mr Carr said.
The Government spent $49 million between 1996 and 2003 to improve housing design and layout.
"This area has not been neglected," he said.