By Greg Shapley
SYDNEY — For the last few Sunday nights, the small bayside suburb of Kyeemagh has played host to a most unusual phenomenon.
At sunset a rather large group (police have estimated 2000) of young people congregate, not (as the local council would have you believe) to perform bizarre pagan sacrificial rites, or even to partake in the indulgence of illicit substances. Rather, they gather in a carpark lodged between General Holmes Drive (a six-lane highway), and the shores of Botany Bay, to look at each other's cars.
On Sunday November 22, Kogarah police, and the Rockdale highway patrol began a ritual of their own in a reactionary attempt to exorcise these "demons".
Local residents had been alerted to the proceedings by a letter from the police which talked of ridding the area of "anti-social behavior"and assured residents that the action was, as always, in their best interests.
A "problem" which might have been solved by greater supervision, a positive interest from the council, and perhaps even an opportune road safety program, was about to be shifted on to another suburb.
Just as distressing was the way in which police dealt with both the perpetrators, and residents who wished to express their own best interests.
It soon became evident that most police did not really know why they themselves were there. One police officer, when asked by a resident why he was there, replied, "to babysit you clowns".
Another assumed complaints from residents, adding that his job was just to get the car enthusiasts out of the area, and not to solve social problems, an attitude prevalent throughout the many officers in attendance.
Half a kilometre down the road another group of police were examining vehicles for defects (owing to the nature of the road, the checking station trapped only those who were travelling to the carpark).
The official line from police the following day was that they were doing Random Breath Tests — this fib perhaps suggesting something illegal about their checking procedures.
The alibi chosen confirms an officer's off-handed comment, "if they ask us what's going on, we'll pull the RBT number", overheard by several people.
During the checks a sergeant 11593 performed at least one assault, and threats of arrest on the grounds of interference were made against residents who got within an earshot of the procedures.
No doubt a further motive for the cops' harassment of the "petrol heads" is the council's wish not to have such "undesirables" in the area over the summer period, when they might destroy the beachside aesthetic the council wishes to promote.
On the surface there exists a condescending rudeness from both police and council towards residents, and downright intolerance to a rather large, but relatively harmless minority.
The police comment which best sums up the situation was, "I don't want them in my backyard, you do something for them."