News Service from House Harris

NSW: Neighbourhoods on edge after bloody brawl

SYDNEY, Jan 7 AAP - Two warring neighbourhoods are under police surveillance in Sydney's south-west to prevent a recurrence of the conflict that left men and youths as young as 16 with stab and gunshot wounds.

A public housing estate in Rosemeadow, south of Campbelltown, was the site of a brawl just before midnight (AEDT) on Monday that involved up to 100 people in Macbeth Way.

Local police, along with the riot squad, dog squad and Polair were called to the neighbourhood, known as the Three Ms, to quell the huge fracas involving knives, baseball bats and at least one firearm,

Police said the fight was not gang-related but arose from a dispute between two families, fuelled by alcohol and summer heat.

Two 16-year-olds who were stabbed multiple times are in police custody and will face Campbelltown Children's Court on Thursday.

One was charged on Wednesday with multiple offences over the shooting of two men aged 20 and 29 - one of whom was shot in the back and one in the buttocks.

The men are believed to be from Julius Road, in the adjacent neighbourhood, and were allegedly present in the Three Ms with associates from the suburb of Claymore, Three Ms residents told AAP.

The second 16-year-old was charged with affray.

The brother-in-law of the teen facing weapons charges said the conflict was far from over.

"It's not over yet - it's just started," he told AAP.

"Put it this way - it's the Three Ms versus Julius."

Anthony Michael Neely, 18, who was not injured in the brawl, was arrested at the scene and charged with affray on Tuesday.

He was granted condition bail in Campbelltown Local Court on Wednesday by Magistrate Michelle Goodwin.

A mother of three young children, who has lived in the Three Ms for 24 years, said the area was safe, but the residents of the Three Ms - Macbeth, Malcolm and Macduff ways - would back each other up.

"We don't fear for our lives here," the woman who asked not to be identified told AAP.

"It's people outside of the circle that come in and want to make it how they want to make it."

Local garbage collectors scoured the Three Ms on Wednesday evening under the protection of more than two dozen riot squad officers.

Police were tipped off that people were stockpiling potential projectiles behind trees and other facades.

"...they became aware that there was a number of objects piled up, including bricks and sticks," Campbelltown Superintendent Stuart Smith told reporters.

He said everything was being done to prevent any follow-up attacks.

"We're urging people that they need to stay calm and don't involve themselves in what occurred the other night."

A heavy police presence will remain in the area over the coming days, Supt Smith said, with more arrests expected.

Acting NSW Premier Carmel Tebbutt said the government would consider a number of "options" to addressing the problems plaguing the public housing estate.

"There's no doubt that if we had've known what we know now back in the 70s when some of those housing estates where built, we might have done it differently," Ms Tebbutt told reporters in Sydney.

Campbelltown's deputy mayor Paul Lake said the state and federal governments should work to improve the area.

"I think it's probably more if they (the state government) could relocate some of the problem people in the area, that would help immensely," Mr Lake told ABC Radio.

AAP vpm/jl/de