Coronavirus: police saddle up for ethnic community clampdown

Some Sydney residents will wake to the sound of horse hooves on the pavement on Friday as police step up patrols in three LGAs.

Police hit the streets of Bankstown in southwest Sydney on Thursday as part of a crackdown on those flouting stay-at-home orders. Picture: Christian Gilles

Southwest Sydney residents will wake to the sound of horses’ hooves pounding the pavement on Friday as police crack down on public health order compliance in the three local governments areas that are at the centre of a growing Covid-19 outbreak.

From 7am, a “high-visibility compliance” operation will see officers from the Dog and Mounted Unit, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, PolAir and Police Transport Command deployed alongside local police to patrol Liverpool, Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown, three areas linked to 21 of 38 locally transmitted cases reported on Thursday.

On Thursday night, however, police were already out in force, patrolling streets, buses and railway stations. Residents have been told they need to “redefine the sense of family”, with authorities desperate to clamp down on unnecessary visits to extended family members as infections surge.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said people had been passing the virus “on to those they love the most”.

“Our police will be targeting the people who think the rules don’t apply to them,” said Metropolitan Field Operations Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon.

“Those people are putting everyone’s lives at risk, including their own families, and working to prolong the lockdown.”

Despite the Fairfield LGA recording 37 Covid-19 cases in the four weeks to July 7, and notwithstanding pleas from the Premier to stay at home, hundreds of ­people could be seen in its central area on Thursday.

By contrast, there was a small turnout at the Fairfield Respiratory Clinic, which tests some locals for Covid-19 and vaccinates others. At one point in the afternoon, no visitor was seen at the clinic.

Less than 200m away at the Bondeno cafe, Bosnian-Australian father and son Enver Eno Dizdaric, 63, and Almir, 36, said their cafe was experiencing the toughest period in its 25-year history. “This is harder than the first year of business and I was struggling then,” Enver said. “I was thinking to close down for two to three weeks but that’s not fair on the doctors and the professional businesses nearby who have drunk this coffee for decades.”

Almir said the drop in business was partly due to the news. “Because they have been hammering Fairfield on the news today, it is crazy quiet. You can understand why but it makes it tough big time,” he said.

Almir Dizdaric, 36, co-owner of Bondeno cafe, which has operated in Fairfield since 1997. Picture: Chris Pavlich

Almir said the area in which he grew up has become riddled with vaccine hesitancy largely because of conspiracy theorists and ­ rumours. “I’d say 90 per cent of people who come in are opposed to the vaccine,” he said. “It’s conspiracy theorist central around here.

“There are a lot of refugees here and it only takes the person who is translating to them to say they’re against it.

“Once they tell their mates, it spreads like wildfire.”

Not helping the rumours is the fact the government has made a mess of vaccine messaging.

“When they’re delivering it to people, their delivery isn’t confident so how can you be expected to have confidence to take it?”

 

The extra NSW Police presence was welcomed by ethnic community leaders, including Belmore Medical Centre GP Jamal Rifi and Federation of Indian Associations president Yadu Singh.

Dr Rifi rejected suggestions police were targeting ethnic communities. “In the present circumstances, it is justified. Otherwise we are at risk of another week of lockdown unless people change their behaviour. It’s the virus which is unable to change its behaviour,” he said.

“Let’s wait and see what’s going to be done and how it’s going to be done. The police are targeting the spread of the virus, not people.”

He said several people who had booked did not turn up for their AstraZeneca vaccinations at Belmore Medical Centre. “It is the same here as everywhere else; we have this issue of people who have passed judgment on AstraZeneca and are voting by their feet and not rolling up their sleeves,” he said. “Unfortunately we have nothing to offer them but AstraZeneca.

“Over the last three weeks, my receptionists are busier than ­myself. They had over 100 calls every day asking when the Pfizer vaccination would become available.”

Dr Rifi said the large case numbers in his area came down to the demographic.

“People who live in this area … are of low socio-economic background – they are essential workers and need to go to work,” he said.

“They don’t have the luxury of working from home.”

Dr Singh attended a Community Leaders Digital Forum on Thursday afternoon alongside the Premier and local police.

“I believe the Indian community is very well-informed but I think there is an element of not appreciating the seriousness of the situation in these areas,” he said.

“We are treading in the dark and we need more testing in southwest Sydney and we also need more people to stay at home.”

Some community leaders are critical of the government’s failure to relay health advice to foreign language-speaking communities such as those in Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury Bankstown.

City of Canterbury Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour said: “I think it would be fair to say there is an element of confusion and mixed messaging, not only in our community but across the country.”

Liverpool mayor Wendy Waller said: “This is not a Liverpool problem, it’s a global one.

“The vast majority of Sydneysiders, including our locals, are doing the right thing.”