Australia, Cross-border bikies feud set to ignite

OFF THE WIRE
BY: DAVID NANKERVIS, LIAM HOULIHAN
Source: adelaidnow.com.au
A CROSS-border feud between rival Christian motorcycle club bikies in SA and Victoria is worsening, with claims an upcoming "war meeting" will soon lead to "bloodshed".
As reported in last week's Sunday Mail, members of the Longriders Christian Motorcycle Club, including some from its two SA chapters, allegedly made violent threats on federal election day to members of a Melbourne-based splinter group, the Yarra Valley Longriders, over the possession of club patches.

According to club insiders, the incident was part of a feud that started about three months ago, when the new Yarra Valley group posted a YouTube video of its members showing off LMC club patches.

The Sunday Mail has obtained a photograph of August 21 confrontation, showing a 62-year-old Yarra Valley member handing back his club patches to a throng of uniformed bikies - including some from SA.


A source at the Longriders' Murray Bridge chapter, who would identify himself only as "D", told the Sunday Mail the LMC was planning a national "war meeting" this month at a bike show in Newcastle, to "shut these (Yarra Valley Longriders) guys up".

"I'm telling you about this because I'm concerned there will be bloodshed at some stage over this - it's inevitable," D said. "They're going to have a set-to and I can only hope it's somewhere away from the public, so no one innocent gets hurt.

"I think the people of Adelaide need to know to stay out of the guys' way, because something's going to flare up." D also claimed there were "infighting and tensions" between the Longriders' Murray Bridge and Adelaide chapters.

"The Murray Bridge guys are concerned the Adelaide guys knock around with outlaws; they associate with all the outlaw groups. Murray Bridge wants to stay in control of the SA organisation," he said.

Other club insiders interstate, who would speak to the Sunday Mail only on condition of anonymity, say some members are "going rogue" after having done outreach work with outlaw bikie gangs - being influenced to act like outlaws and not the other way around.

"They go to outlaw clubs and hang out with them," one said. "They do good work. But now, some are acting more like the outlaws."

In response, the SA Longriders issued a statement yesterday which read: "Longriders Christian Motorcycle Club South Australia refutes any unfounded allegations made against them."

SA Police spokesman Inspector Steve Kameniar said the Longriders had not been the focus of SA Police attention.