NSW: Police continue crackdown on Rosemeadow estate
By Adam Bennett, Karen Davis and Andrew Drummond08 Jan 2009 4:40 PM
EDS: Note language in 7th par.
SYDNEY, Jan 8 AAP - Police have continued their crackdown on a troubled Sydney housing estate, arresting more people involved in a mass brawl earlier this week along with others over fresh violence.
As a number of Rosemeadow residents appeared in court on Thursday over the brawl involving 100 people, a heavy police presence remained in the estate in the city's south-west.
The suburb erupted into violence just before midnight (AEDT) on Monday, with police saying the bloody brawl was fuelled by alcohol and the summer heat, and centred on a dispute between two families.
The huge fracas involved knives, baseball bats and at least one firearm, with a handful of residents suffering serious injuries in the brawl, including two men who were shot and at least two youths who were stabbed.
Police have been in the estate since the brawl, but tensions have continued in recent days as officers tried to restore order and avert reprisal attacks.
A number of residents faced Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday, including a 16-year-old boy charged with various firearms offences, affray and causing grievous bodily harm.
Tempers flared outside the court, with the family of the teenager attacking journalists, telling them to "f*** off" and throwing soft drink over them.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not apply for bail at Campbelltown's Children's Court.
It was formally refused and the matter was adjourned to the same court on Monday, January 12.
Another resident, John Rophia, 27, was refused bail in Campbelltown Local Court, after being charged with affray.
On Thursday afternoon, police arrested six more males over Monday's brawl.
Two boys aged 15 and 16, and three men aged 20, 24 and 27, have been taken to Campbelltown police station, with the Rosemeadow residents expected to be charged with affray.
The 24 and 27-year-olds could also face charges of wounding with intent, police said.
A 21-year-old Claymore man has also been arrested and is likely to be charged with assault and malicious damage.
"The arrests are as a result of a coordinated operation involving police from the Public Order and Riot Squad and Campbelltown, Macquarie Fields, Liverpool and Green Valley local Area Commands," police said in a statement.
Violence is still continuing in Rosemeadow, with a police car's window smashed as officers patrolled the area known as the 3Ms - after the neighbouring streets Macbeth, Malcolm and Macduff Ways.
Police arrested three men late on Wednesday night during the mass patrols, which included the dog squad, highway patrol and general duties personnel.
A 30-year-old man allegedly armed with a baseball bat and a knife has been charged with possessing a knife in a public place.
Officers also arrested two other men, aged 23 and 20, as they moved on a crowd congregated on Malcolm Way.
They have both been charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and offensive behaviour.
The NSW Housing Minister David Borger said the government would push ahead with a $4 million plan to reconfigure the Rosemeadow estate - including the demolition of five properties and redesign of 87 others.
But the NSW Greens said demolitions were not an answer to solving the violence at Rosemeadow.
"The root cause of the types of brawls we have seen in recent years is entrenched disadvantage, not the design of public housing," NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale said.
"This is about people, in particular young people, who are disadvantaged, unemployed, living in poverty and with poor education.
"Wherever those elements combine, you will have social problems - whether it's in high rise or suburbia."
