Australia - Sydney's Bra Boys in Bali memorial blow-up

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Sydney's Bra Boys in Bali memorial blow-up

UP to 40 police and the riot squad were called to a Bali bombing memorial in Sydney when notorious Bra Boys gang members turned up.

Up to 300 people had gathered at Cromwell Park, alongside Malabar Beach, about 1pm (AEDT) yesterday for the annual picnic event to remember the 10 victims from the Eastern Suburbs community who died in the 2002 attack.

But when members of the Bra Boys arrived about 4pm, police responded with a strong presence.

The group of men associated with the gang is understood to have gathered on a hill alongside the park, separate from the rest of the mourners.

Police circled the park after reports of verbal threats from members of the community. Four ambulances were also placed on standby.

"A number of people contacted Eastern Beaches police providing information about a verbal confrontation between members of the group," Inspector Robert Creamer said.

But angry and emotional locals say the police presence was heavy-handed and intimidating, ruining what they described as a "family day".

Mick Buchan, who lost four family members in the Bali attack, said he was "disgusted" by the police conduct.

"This has been an absolute disgrace,'' he said.

After a three-hour stand-off, 15 police formed a line, moving down the hill to disperse the crowd

Tracey North, who lost six friends in the attack, said the Bra Boys were at the memorial to join the grieving families.

"They were here to pay their respects," she said.
"We all lost close friends in the attack, so did some of those boys,

"They were sitting on the hill, they weren't causing any trouble.

"For the police to come down here on a family day like this is disgusting."

A spokesman said police on scene requested further assistance due to fears the incident could escalate.

Other memorials were held across Australia and in Indonesia yesterday.

Sydney's Bra Boys in Bali memorial blow-up | NEWS.com.au

Australia News Headlines

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Bra Boys

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The Bra Boys are an Australian surfing group in Sydney's East. The group is centered on the Sydney suburb of Maroubra.The group began as a small surf club in the 1960s.[citation needed] The group is named after the suburb Maroubra and not the Board Riders Association as some people may think. Some members of the group tattoo "Bra Boys" and Maroubra's post code "2035" on their backs.[1]



Notoriety

Prominent Bra Boys members include Rugby League players Reni Maitua, Lachlan Gordon, John Sutton, as well as the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Jai, and most famously Koby.
In May 2005, Jai Abberton was acquitted of a 2003 murder of stand-over man Tony Hines. However, his brother Koby was handed a suspended nine-month jail sentence after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in the same matter.[2]
In late 2002, around 160 members of the group attending a birthday party at the Coogee-Randwick RSL Club were involved in a brawl with off-duty Waverley police officers leaving a Christmas party on the same premises. News reports numbered the combatants in the incident at around 120, with 30 police officers left injured after the event.[3]
In August 2005, the group led a 100 person protest against parking meters near the local beaches.[4]
Following the Cronulla riots, in which the group was not involved but was subsequently targeted, the Abberton brothers held well-publicised meetings with other uninvolved groups to help ease tensions.[5] "I think that this is the start, the boys have agreed to come down and talk to us, to start some dialogue between the groups, you know, to try and ease some tension", said Sunny Abberton in a group interview on The 7.30 Report.[6].

[edit] Documentary

A documentary film about the group, entitled Bra Boys premiered in Sydney on the 7 March 2007 and was released on the 15 March 2007. It details a story of the Bra Boys from the viewpoint of the group, particularly the Abbertons. Actor Russell Crowe provided narration.[7]
Australian reviewer Margaret Pomeranz gave the movie an overall positive review, while her At the Movies co-host David Stratton criticised Sunny's amateurish direction and questioned how objective a documentary can be when it is directed by its subject.[8]
The documentary became Australia's highest-grossing non-IMAX documentary following its release in March 2007.[9] The movie saw a limited release in the United States beginning on 11 April 2008, and was played at select locations in Southern California, New York and Hawaii in a total of 22 theaters.[10]. It is being distributed internationally and in the USA by boutique distributor Berkela Films.[11]

[edit] Surfing

The Bra Boys is held together by surfing as well as community ties. The group is often linked with the Maroubra Surfers Association, with which a number of its members are associated.
The group is known to have taken control of a lethal Sydney reef break, known as 'Cape Solander', located in Kurnell, and renaming the break 'Ours'. In July 2007, the Sydney Morning Herald reported about an altercation that took place between professional bodyboarder Mitch Rawlins and a group of four Bra Boys, including Koby Abberton. Rawlins was allegedly approached by a Bra Boy member and told to "fuck off". It is believed an argument broke out and then turned physical with Rawlins being punched in the head. A spokesman for the Bra Boys confirmed there had been "some sort of small incident" but denied any major violence.[12]

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“Bra Boys” is a film about the cultural evolution of the inner-Sydney beachside suburb of Maroubra and the social struggle of its youth – the tattooed and much maligned surf community known as the Bra Boys. Central to the story is the true-life struggle of the Abberton brothers – Sunny, Koby, Jai and Dakota … one charged with murdering a Sydney standover man, another pursuing a professional surf career but charged as an accessory in his brother’s legal fight, another trying to hold the family together and a young brother whose inheritance is his siblings’ notoriety. The story is narrated by Academy Award-winning Australian actor Russell Crowe, and is told through the eyes of members of the Bra Boys.

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Surfing Footage Part 1 - Bra Boys