Police outnumber demonstrators outside Parramatta mosque

By Anne Davies and Eryk Bagshaw
Updated October 16 2015 - 10:09am, first published October 10 2015 - 1:24am
Police in Parramatta on Friday afternoon. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Police in Parramatta on Friday afternoon. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Police on the streets of Parramatta on Friday.  Photo: Wolter Peeters
Police on the streets of Parramatta on Friday. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Riot squad police and mounted police barricaded Marsden St and formed an exclusion zone in front of Parramatta Mosque between anti-Islamic and pro-Islamic groups.  Photo: Wolter Peeters
Riot squad police and mounted police barricaded Marsden St and formed an exclusion zone in front of Parramatta Mosque between anti-Islamic and pro-Islamic groups. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Anti-Islamic protesters approach police in front of Parramatta Mosque.  Photo: Wolter Peeters
Anti-Islamic protesters approach police in front of Parramatta Mosque. Photo: Wolter Peeters
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 09:  Shutdown Parramatta Mosque rally on October 9, 2015 in Sydney, Australia.  (Photo by Zak Kaczmarek/Fairfax Media) Photo: Zak Kaczmarek
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 09: Shutdown Parramatta Mosque rally on October 9, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Zak Kaczmarek/Fairfax Media) Photo: Zak Kaczmarek

Demonstrators gathered in Parramatta CBD on Friday evening chanting anti-Islam slogans, and denouncing the shooting of a NSW police employee Curtis Cheng a week ago by 15-year-old Muslim student Farhad Jabar, as a heavily armed police presence sought to keep anti-Islam protesters and a second group, who had come to show support for the Muslim community, apart.