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[OZ] Bash and crash
Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:28am
4.154.97.170

 
Bash and crash
David Nankervis
19feb06
A CHANCE encounter in a city street between rival bikie gang members has led to a brawl, police raids and the ramming of the Rebels bikie headquarters.

The incidents are the latest in the simmering feud between two of South Australia's most notorious gangs, which has resulted in numerous incidents in recent years – including one in which shots were fired at a crowded awards nights at AAMI Stadium last May.

The latest drama began about 3pm on Friday when a fight broke out between two Rebels members and a Hells Angel member in a side street off Franklin St.

Police said the fight resulted in injuries, but no one sought medical treatment. Police also believe no weapons were involved.

Five hours later, police instigated a series of raids, starting with the Rebels' clubrooms at Eric St, Old Noarlunga, and private addresses of known Rebels and Hells Angels members in the metropolitan area.









About noon yesterday, a truck rammed the large fortified steel gates of the Rebels' headquarters in Royal Park, ripping them off their hinges before smashing into a roller door inside the compound and then speeding off. Police were expected to lay property damage charges against at least one gang member, believed to be a Hells Angel member.

But the special anti-motorcycle gang unit Avatar yesterday played down speculation of a possible gang war.

"We do not talk along the lines of gang warfare," the officer in charge of Operation Avatar, Detective Inspector Graham Goodwin, said.

But he said police were investigating whether the clubrooms were rammed as a payback after the brawl the previous day.

"This behaviour involving confrontation between gangs won't be tolerated and we will throw all resources necessary at these people if they want to carry on putting the public in danger," Det-Insp Goodwin said.

A resident who lives near the Rebels' compound said he heard a loud bang and then saw a truck speed off immediately afterwards.

Police said no one was injured when the truck hit the compound and they were still trying to establish the driver's identity.

Another resident, Glenis Costello, 57, said the truck made a huge crashing noise when it hit the gates.

"I heard a great big crash, then the sound of a burglar alarm," she said.

Det-Insp Goodwin said police had talked to leaders of both clubs about the incidents. "While the city fight did cause injuries, no one required medical treatment," he said.

Rebels members had made no complaint to police about their clubrooms being rammed.

However, members told Avatar officers the ramming was an "accident" involving a vehicle linked to the gang.

The ongoing feud is believed to have begun eight years years ago when Rebels members bashed a Hells Angel in the Heritage Hotel, city, before he shot and wounded two of them and a female bystander.

In the AAMI Stadium incident, two shots were fired among a crowd of 6000 people attending the Adelaide Dance Music Awards. No one was hurt.

Tensions between the rival clubs are also believed to be linked to the bombing of the Rebels' Brompton clubhouse in July 1999, and the shooting deaths of three Rebels outside their Wright St clubrooms in October that same year.

A turf war between the two gangs, involving their links with several city nightclubs over who provides security guards, is also believed to be a factor.


 

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