Police monitor protest planning

19 Sep 2012, 3:31 pm   -   Source: Andy Park, SBS
An SMS circulating in Melbourne calls for counter protests.

An SMS circulating in Melbourne calls for counter protests.

State police agencies are monitoring communications over planned protests in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend, as messages circulate on SMS and Facebook groups organising actions on different ideological sides.

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By Andy Park

State police agencies are monitoring communications over planned protests in Sydney and Melbourne this weekend, as messages circulate on SMS and Facebook groups organising actions on different ideological sides.

One SMS reportedly circulating in Melbourne calls for anti-Islam protests, reading “they thought Cronulla riots were bad”.

“Let's show these bearded goat herders that we run this county (sic) not them ….” read the SMS, which was full of expletives and other offensive language.

On the other side, a Facebook page SBS believes is hosted in Sydney called “Protests against the movie innocence of Muslims mocking Islam” was either made private or deleted yesterday.

“Our prophet pbuh (peace be upon Him) will not be made a mockery of!!! STAND UP PEOPLE!!!!,” it read, calling on people to an “end to this disrespect”

Both messages indicated times, dates and places of planned protests.

A NSW police spokeswoman said police have been alerted to a social media thread inciting unauthorised gatherings and violence this weekend.

It has not been confirmed whether it is the “Protests against the movie innocence of Muslims mocking Islam” Facebook page or not.

“NSW police force takes these matters seriously and will investigate the source of the threads and where possible prosecute those responsible,”

The spokeswoman said that the people should be aware that the dissemination of inciteful material is unacceptable and if offences are detected appropriate action will be taken.

“NSW Police force respects the public’s right to free speech and lawful protest, however police wont tolerate violence and will take firm an appropriate action to ensure the communities safety,” she said.

Meanwhile Victoria Police deputy police commissioner Tim Cartwright told radio station 3AW this morning that police were taking the SMS text message seriously.

"We'll be trying to identify the group or people and will be paying them a visit as soon as we can, just to investigate it and make sure it doesn’t happen," he said.

Earlier, community leader called for calm.

After initially calling for any rallies to be held peacefully, the Board of Imams Victoria has decided it would not sanction or support any rallies against the film.

Board of Imams spokesman Sheikh Mohamadu Saleem said religious leaders were confident that the violence seen at a Sydney rally on Saturday would not occur in Melbourne.

"There has never been any fear that a repeat of the violent scenes which took place in Sydney could be repeated in Melbourne due to the level of dialogue and community engagement that exists in Victoria," he said in a statement.

Muslim Protests

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