Another bikie brawl on Gold Coast as rivals clash at Smoothie Shack at Nobbys Beach, Gold Coast
UPDATE: Serial troublemaker and accused footy field penis biter Anthony Watts has been questioned over today's bikie brawl at a Coast smoothie shop.
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SERIAL troublemaker and accused footy field penis biter Anthony Watts has been questioned by police over today's bikie brawl at a Gold Coast smoothie shop.
Diners at the Smoothie Shack at Nobby Beach, including children, ducked for cover as bikies hurled tables and chairs during five minutes of mayhem this morning.
The brawl is believed to have been a showdown between rival Hells Angels and Finks bikies.
Police sources told couriermail.com.au that Watts, a former NRL player turned trainee Finks gang member, was nabbed by police at the nearby Nobby Beach Surf Club.
He was questioned but released.
Police said they were studying CCTV footage from the café and conducting other investigations to see exactly who was involved in the brawl.
Watts, who has had numerous brushes with the law since leaving the NRL to become a bikie, made world headlines last month when he was accused of biting a rival's penis in a local rugby league game. He was later banned for eight weeks.
Help me beat the bikies: Newman
Earlier it was reported that patrons at the smoothie shop were forced to duck for cover as tables and chairs were hurled around the cafe in the latest outbreak of bikie violence on the Gold Coast.
Smoothie Shack owner Amanda Parker said a window was smashed in the melee.
She said the attack happened after some of her patrons were 'ambushed' as they sat eating breakfast, and as her nine-year-old daughter was stocking the fridge at the front of the cafe.
She said a one group of men sitting at another table appeared to call in a carload of four other men who arrived on the scene and started a fight.
"It seemed to be a bit of a drive-by ambush," she said.
"Four men got out of a car and it was on. It's not what you expect to happen in Nobby Beach - it doesn't seem to be one of those places where people have aggression."
Ms Parker said the drama lasted about five minutes but fortunately, no-one was hurt.
Police superintendent Ben Hanbidge said the melee was believed to be outlaw bikie gang-related.
"We've reviewed CCTV footage and it looks as though a few chairs and tables were thrown around the place," he said.
Bikie brawl: Target boasts 'You see any marks on my face'?
In his first press conference since returning from an overseas trade mission this morning, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman laid down the gauntlet to bikies, saying they'd warched "too many re-runs of Underbelly", and that their days of freedom are numbered.
Mr Newman said he was "dismayed and angry at the scenes he saw on the Gold Coast Friday night".
"From that time onwards I was on the phone to the Deputy Premier, the Attorney-General, the Police Minister and on one occasion the Police Commissioner to talk about the response by the government," said Mr Newman.
"I have remotely from Japan been directing traffic and calling some of the shots."
VIOLENCE: Policewoman targeted by bikies
He reiterated the measures announced yesterday including bans on bikie gatherings, working in or operating a tattoo parlour and recruitment to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
The Premier said the new offences would carry minimum mandatory prison sentences and would be accompanied by more measures designed to wipe out such organisations.
"Watch this space," he said.
He acknowledged his previous comments that "wearing a leather jacket and having tattooes was not enough to put someone in jail" and said he had changed his opinion.
"Friday night was a turning point," said the Premier.
The defence force would not be consulted but Mr Newman said advice was being sought on what else could be done.
"This is not going to be quick, it's not going to be easy," said the Premier.
"The civil libertarians will bleat and they will carry on, (but) Friday night was a turning point."
"It doesn't look as though anyone was seriously injured but certainly some members of the public were in there and they had to duck for cover.
"It's certainly disappointing to see so soon after what happened on Friday night in Broadbeach and we're making every effort to identify the people involved in this."
The bikies fled the scene, heading south on the Gold Coast Highway in two cars. One was a black Toyota Corolla and a white Holden sedan.
The shop is believed to be a known hangout for the Hells Angels.
Earlier, accused Gold Coast bikie brawl instigator Jacques Teamo has handed himself in to police.
The senior Bandidos bikie walked into Southport police station accompanied by his lawyer Chris Hannay just after 9am on Tuesday.
He was named in Southport Magistrates Court as the leader of a 'lynch mob' of 60 Bandidos who terrorised the Gold Coast on Friday night.
Teamo allegedly walked into a Broadbeach restaurant and told Finks bikie gang associate Jason Trouchet, "This is it."
Trouchet's lawyer told the court his client feared he would be "led down a dark alley ... and end up in a wheelchair or coffin" and started fight with the Bandidos to attract police attention.
Teamo was shot during a confrontation with a Finks rival at Robina Town Centre last year, a week after his Mermaid Beach tattoo parlour was peppered with bullets.
Speaking outside the police station, Teamo's lawyer Chris Hannay said his client was facing "significant charges" including rioting and a break and enter charge.
"We anticipate doing a bail application for him and then we'll wait and see what the brief says and go from there," Mr Hannay said.
He said Teamo disputed the allegations against him and would be defending the charges "at this stage.
Mr Hannay said Teamo was a family man and regretted the public terror the bikie brawl had caused.
"His circumstances are it's not for him to cause dramas in (Broadbeach) or anywhere else," he said.
Mr Hannay said he believed planned new laws to crack down on outlaw bikie gangs were overkill.
"I think Queensland's over-governed," he said.
"Certainly if they want to bring in some new consorting-type laws well that's a matter for themselves. From my perspective, I think the (Police) Commissioner's got enough resources."
Mr Hannay said many bikies were leaving gangs and "going off to do their own thing with their own families".
Police have also arrested another Bandido who was brought to Southport watch-house.
He is expected to face court later charged with rioting.
Police have now arrested 21 bikie gang members over the brawl and a later siege at Southport police station.
In other news, a bikie gang member is warning that Queensland's proposed anti-gang laws will turn honest bikies to crime.
Outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Finks and the Bandidos could find themselves banned from their own clubhouses within weeks as the State Government moves to run them out of Queensland.
New laws being drawn up in response to Friday's violence on the Gold Coast include wide-ranging bans on bikies - from where they work to what they wear when they go out.
United Motorcycle Council member Russell "Camel'' Watie warns that tough laws will push more bikies to the fringes of the law.
"Well you have to put food on the table, roof over the head, feed your family,'' he told ABC Radio.
"What are you going to do? You can't survive on the dole.
"Do they want us to only have crime?
"Is that the position they see for us so then they can say 'look we were right, we were justified in doing that because now they're criminals all the time','' said Mr Watie.
Bikie target brags: No marks on my face
Policewomen targeted in gang brawl
Broadbeach brawl leads to war on bikies
The legislative attack is designed to complement a police blitz on the Glitter Strip even bigger than the one that followed the slaying of Coast detective Damian Leeding.
One hundred police reinforcements will be sent to the Gold Coast in coming days, with the first batch of 50 to arrive tomorrow to form a new taskforce to tackle crime which tourism leaders said was ruining the city's reputation.
Proposed legislation to be introduced at the next parliamentary sittings could name individual gangs to allow police to move swiftly against members.
Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the bans would apply to gatherings of bikies, the ownership and operation of tattoo parlours, and the wearing of club colours in licensed venues.
He said the amendments to existing Criminal Organisation legislation would send a "loud and clear message to criminal groups that they are not welcome in Queensland".
"We have drawn a line in the sand and said enough is enough," Mr Bleijie added.
Members of criminal gangs would also be banned from working as tattooists, and specific locations would be made off-limits including their own clubhouses and the entertainment precincts such as Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.
Acting Premier Jeff Seeney said they fully expected the organisations to challenge the legislation.
"We are very aware these people are well resourced and that they will challenge whatever we do," Mr Seeney said.
"They will be challenged in the courts, and in terms of the behaviour they adopt.
"These criminal gangs operate using fear and intimidation."
Angry senior police yesterday revealed "cowardly" bikies who went on the rampage on the Coast at the weekend terrorised families and deliberately targeted policewomen with violence.
Gold Coast acting Assistant Commissioner Steve Hollands, said the latest eruption of bikie violence, in which gang members brawled openly at Broadbeach and then laid siege to Southport police station, was "totally unprecedented".
He said police had been caught out by a lack of intelligence about the planned bashing of a Finks bikie gang associate by 60 Bandidos bikies.
"We did the best we could under the circumstances with the staff we had,'' he said.
New laws will include mandatory minimum sentences of a year's jail for the serious assault of police, Mr Bleijie said.
Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the Commonwealth was ready to assist.
The State and Federal Government commitment was quickly welcomed by Queensland Police Union acting president Shayne Maxwell, who said officers had responded wholeheartedly to the call for reinforcements on the Gold Coast.
- additional reporting by Robyn Ironside, AAP
Shopping centre shooting victim instigated brawl
A SENIOR Bandidos bikie shot at a Gold Coast shopping centre last year after his tattoo parlour was peppered with bullets instigated Friday's wild bikie brawl.
Southport Magistrates Court heard Jacques Teamo sparked the brawl when he walked into a Broadbeach restaurant with a "lynch mob".
He was there to confront Finks bikie gang associate Jason Trouchet and allegedly told him: "This is it."
The court heard Trouchet started a fight to attract police attention as he feared he would be led "down a dark alley" and "end up in a coffin".
Trouchet, 39, and associate Matthew Sward, 25, appeared in court yesterday charged with affray.
Opposing bail, police prosecutor Senior-Constable Nick Wang told the court about 60 Bandidos bikies wearing gang colours entered the precinct "intimidating members of the public by their sheer presence".
He said the Bandidos entered the Aura restaurant and had a heated exchange with Trouchet and Sward.
A fight erupted and spilt outside, forcing families to cower in terror.
Sen-Constable Wang said Trouchet needed to be kept behind bars for his own protection and the public's.
When magistrate Ron Kilner suggested Trouchet should have called police or fled the restaurant, his defence lawyer Jason Jacobson replied his client was surrounded.
Trouchet and Sward were granted bail, with Trouchet ordered to go back to the Northern Territory and Sward banned from Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.
- Additional reporting Robyn Ironside
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