Contributor:
Bilqis, Infoxchange
Source:
ABC News Online.
Posted: 13-4-2005
Local residents have been traumatised by the unannounced counter-terrorism exercise carried out last week on Smith Street(ABC News Online, 13 April 2005).
Melbourne residents terrified by a counter-terrorism exercise will seek compensation from federal and state agencies, saying they feared the operation was a genuine attack.
They fronted a meeting of the Yarra City Council overnight claiming they were traumatised by the exercise.
The residents say they were terrified when they saw men wearing balaclavas in their streets and helicopters hovering over head in the suburb of Collingwood last Friday.
They say loud explosions also blew out some windows.
The City of Yarra wants the agencies involved to pay for counselling and is exploring possible compensation for the damage to homes.
Councillor Stephen Jolly says residents were understandably frightened.
"I don't think I've ever been at a council meeting so far where I've seen such trauma on display," he said.
"People who are refugees who've come from war-torn areas, older people who've experience the Hoddle Street massacre in the late 1980s, just down the road ... they just simply did not know what happened.
"They didn't know if it was somebody roaming the street, whether it was a genuine terrorist attack.
"People weren't told it was going to happen."
Councillor Jolly believes the operation was bungled.
"The so-called security agencies told us that they'd spent six months planning this exercise and only two days beforehand they decided to letterbox the locals to let them know it was happening, but then they admitted the letterbox drop probably didn't happen," he said.
Victoria Police have apologised to residents.
Deputy Police Commissioner Bill Kelly admits the blasts, set off by defence personnel, were louder than expected.
"If people got woken up and weren't contacted and they were startled by those explosions, I'm sorry," he said.
"It's something that happened at the time but I don't apologise for the exercise."
Website: Use this link to read the original article on the ABC News Online website.
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