Colin John COGLE

“The men in hospital said it was reminiscent of the movie ‘Zulu’. They said the bikies came at them in bursts with barrages of projectiles.”

This was how Sergeant Mark Edwards, of the public-relations branch of the Bathurst police, described the scene on Saturday night at Mount Panorama

racetrack near Bathurst when an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 motorcyclists held about 100 police officers under siege for

about 5 1/2 hours.

The motorcyclists threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and sticks of gelignite at police sheltering in the police-station compound at the camping ground.

Eighty-one of the 91 members of the Sydney-based riot unit, the Tactical Response Group, stationed in the compound, were injured. Sixteen required treatment at Bathurst District Hospital.

Police cars and ambulances were hit by missiles as they tried to reach scores of injured policemen and youths.

One police sergeant who kicked away a stick of gelignite which landed in front of him appears likely to lose the tops of three of his toes.

“He’s very lucky,” Sergeant Edwards said. “If it had exploded before he kicked it away it would have blown off his legs. As it was, the blast knocked down two other men standing near him.”

The front door of the police station was rocked by an explosion, and thousands of dollars damage was caused to police vehicles. Electricity to the compound was cut off, but police had an emergency generator standing by.

Police arrested 77 people on a total of 134 charges, ranging from resisting arrest to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. They will appear in Bathurst Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.

One person was arrested after a motorcycle was driven into a line of policemen, knocking them over.

In Bathurst, police motorcyclists were struck by rocks and sticks as they attempted to Breathalyze motorcyclists in the streets.

The officer in charge of the Tactical Response Group, Superintendent Colin Cogle, said the force had been the target of a “screaming mob”. It was the worst confrontation his men had faced.

Flanked on three sides, the police, wielding nightsticks and protected by shields, helmets and padded jackets, had made repeated charges out of their fenced compound into the crowds, arresting one or two people each time.’

Each charge ended with a retreat under a hail of missiles.

Mount Panorama has been the scene of violence in past years during the Easter motorcycle meeting. Police were happy with the behaviour of the crowd last year after violence in 1980 and 1981 threatened the future of the event.

Sergeant Edwards said about 25,000 motorcycle enthusiasts were camped on the mountain for this year’s event.

The trouble began about 7.30pm on Saturday when a man and a woman in a Volkswagen in the camping ground were harassed by a group which began rocking the car. The couple fled to the police compound and the motorcyclists set the car on fire.

After police had put out the fire, motorcyclists rolled the car to the police station and tried to roll it through the wire fence surrounding the compound.

The motorcyclists began pelting bottles, cans, wine casks full of rocks, burning toilet rolls which had been soaked in petrol, Molotov cocktails, and half-sticks of gelignite into the compound. Several policemen had their uniforms set alight while others received serious cuts and bruises.

“The men in hospital said that this year it was worse than in previous years,” Sergeant Edwards said. “They said it was terrible. It just didn’t stop.

“The men would go outside to try and calm things down, then they would be forced back inside by a barrage of projectiles.

“They made repeated requests to the bikies to stop things but they just didn’t listen.

“They’re a strange breed. You just can’t reason with them. We’re convinced that the whole thing was a deliberately planned exercise, but it just makes no sense at all.” ; Bricks and large rocks had been piled up for use as ammunition, and other weapons had been devised.

The crowd began leaving the mountain yesterday afternoon and police did not expect any more serious trouble during the night.

Rower’s comeback

Colin Cogle, a former King’s Cup representative, will make a comeback for Haberfield in Saturday’s Boone Cup senior eights at Mosman club’s regatta.

The regatta, which will open the rowing season, will be hold on the Lane Cove River.

Cogle, a policeman, rowed for NSW in the 1946 ( Penrith ) King’s Cup and again in 1947 (Perth).

His presence in the crew has greatly strengthened Haberfield, which is experiencing a shortage of senior oarsmen. Cogle will “row in the No. 3 seat.

Three Empire Games representatives, Les Montgomery (stroke), Erwin Eder (seven), and Ken Gee ( five ) also will row for Haberfield.

Sydney crew, which will row against” Haberfield, has been weakened by the inclusion of five of its star men in the Christchurch \(NZ) centenary Games squad.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article230472702.txt