Sydney riots could create more mistrust of terror laws

CANBERRA - Race-fuelled violence in Sydney could create further mistrust of new anti-terrorism laws, Australia's most senior police officer says.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has linked the unrest to community mistrust of sweeping counter-terrorism measures passed by federal parliament this month.

Eleven men were arrested overnight during a second consecutive night of mob violence in Sydney.

Seven people were injured, cars and shops trashed, and rock and flares hurled at police in apparent reprisal attacks for Sunday's race riot at Cronulla, where mobs chased and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance.

Mr Keelty said the violence would not help law enforcement attempts to build bridges with young Muslims who already feel targeted by the new anti-terror laws.

"The basis for our progress in terms of the security environment will be ameliorating any of the differences with the next generations around the country," he told the Nine Network.

"There's a lot of concern about the new legislation, a lot of concern about how the police will apply the new legislation and we need to demonstrate from the policing perspective that it will be enacted upon appropriately.

"But we need the trust of the community, and at the moment that trust will be very challenging in an environment if that is allowed to go unabated.

"I'm not saying that anyone's at fault here, what I'm saying is that all of us need to realise that our country is a much better place than this behaviour demonstrates."

Mr Keelty said he expected the incidents in Sydney would make the work of his officers even more difficult.

"It makes it a little bit more difficult for us to engage the trust, or attract the trust, of the young people who are seeing these new laws as being directed against them," he said.

"Our officers, in dealing with the issues that we need to deal with, need to remember that to maintain the community's trust they must act appropriately in the circumstances.

"Certainly, in this country, I think it's the last thing any of us needed.

"That's not to blame anybody, that's to say let's get through this and move on because there are bigger challenges we need to face both as a community and as a country."

- AAP