A Muslim community leader who called for a crackdown on extremists in Sydney says he has been assaulted while walking in the street with his two-year-old son and warned that his family would be killed, eleven days after he was threatened and told to stop speaking out.
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Jamal Daoud, a prominent refugee advocate, claims police have failed to take his reports seriously and says the community will start taking its own action to photograph and publicise attacks if they do nothing.
He says a man punched him in the chest about 2.20pm on Friday while he and his son were walking towards a shop at the corner of Hall and Station Streets, Auburn.
The man, with a long beard and speaking in a Lebanese accent, had told him: "I will kill you if you don't get out of my face."
Mr Daoud said two other "extremists" had got off a double-cabin white utility and abused him and threatened to kill him and his family.
They had made references to his campaign against extremists.
Mr Daoud says he reported another threat outside nearby Berala railway station on December 29 when, walking with another son, a man had approached and warned him against his television plea for action against Muslim radicals and jihadists.
"We will get you, you f---in' dog," the man had screamed.
But Mr Daoud says he again went to Auburn police station to face "very relaxed detectives" who told him there was no way to prove the attack was related to extremism.
When contacted by Fairfax Media, police said officers attached to Flemington Local Area Command were investigating a number of reports of harassment and assaults in the local area between November and January this year, during which they have remained in contact with the victim.
"Police were contacted by a 47-year-old man on each occasion. Each report has been followed up by police and inquiries are ongoing," a spokesperson said.
"This has included ongoing patrols and reviewing security camera footage. Officers attached to specialist commands have also been notified of the investigation and are assisting."
However Mr Daoud said he was deeply concerned "that the local police and anti-terrorism agencies are not taking the matter seriously," Mr Daoud said.
After the Berala threat, "I provided police detectives with the plate numbers and picture of the car the extremist was riding when he left the scene. Until today, no progress in the investigation was made."
He claimed extremists and "potential terrorists" were "very relaxed in roaming our streets, assaulting community members they do not like and making all kinds of threats they wish".
"As my concern had reached its maximum limit, I told police detectives that 'enough is enough' and we will take proactive measures to stop extremists by community power.
"This will include publishing all incidents, perpetrators, their vehicles, their activities, and encourage community members to enforce these extremists to retreat. We will also start mobilising community to enforce the closure of extremists' hubs and centres they meet in.
"I indicated to police that these measures may increase tension [in an already tense] situation, but authorities silence and inaction had enforced us to empower community to take proactive steps to crack down on extremists. We know that such steps could result in [a] few confrontations and attacks and counter-attacks, but we were left with no other alternatives."
He claimed police and security agencies were "living on other planet".
Mr Daoud is a Sunni who identifies as a secularist and pogressive thinker. He has given support to many Shiite Muslim asylum seekers.
