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Pinched from Ozbiker.org
Gypsy Jokers settle in for the New Year
at Bunbury
The Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club was shadowed by more than 100 Western
Australian cops as it began its national run yesterday, culminating in a
roadblock south of Mandurah in which every member was stopped, breathalysed and
filmed.
The club, which has chapters in WA, South Australia, NSW and Victoria, set off
from their Maddington clubhouse about 9.30am yesterday after interstate members
joined their WA brothers.
Media representatives observed the 100+-strong convoy was outnumbered by a
combined police operational group comprising members of the outlaw motorcycle
gang task force, State security unit, tactical response group and other regional
stations who tasked with following the club throughout the duration of the run
On the last day of the last Xmas Run held in WA ( three years ago), tensions
between the two groups reached flash point when the club accused the cops of
deliberately knocking a member off his bike in Mandurah .
Police insisted that the Gypsy Joker fell off on his own accord.
The incident was the culmination of an intense "zero tolerance" policy the cops
enforced from the moment the club left their clubrooms.
It was popularly theorised by observers, that after an incident free and
peaceful ride, the cops were desperate to create trouble to help justify the
negative media hype and expense of the estimated 500 officers employed to follow
the club around the State.
The incident was the culmination of an intense "zero tolerance" policy the cops
enforced from the moment the club left their clubrooms.
Individual members involved in recent high profile courtcases and later
acquitted,were reportedly seen enjoying themselves on the ride.
Supt Ron Carey when questioned by a small media contingent, said the bikers had
been well behaved, but added he had more than enough officers to handle any
potential trouble.
“It’s our job to manage them so they don’t disrupt the lives of good decent
citizens,” he said.
“We have managed them from the border earlier in the week" he then went on to
add "co-operation doesn’t exist between the police and the bikies, not right at
this time, but there’s this rather indifferent respect from both sides that we
understand each other.
“They think they have a job to do, we know we have a job to do, and we get about
it as best we can without too much disruption.”
The club set up camp on private property near Bunbury where they planned to see
in the new year.
Police set up camp nearby.
