Australian teens rampage in school

SYDNEY, Australia – Five teenagers brandishing baseball bats and machetes rampaged through a suburban Sydney school Monday and hit a teacher over the head, police said. Eighteen students were treated for minor injuries.

The drama unfolded as hundreds attended an assembly in an outdoor area of Merrylands High School. As the attackers moved in, teachers rushed the students back to class, where they sought refuge behind locked doors, under desks, even in a cupboard.

“I find it very difficult to believe the brazenness of how they entered the school,” Police Detective Inspector Jim Stewart said. Such school violence is rare in Australia.

The teens, ages 14 to 16, were arrested and will appear in court today to face more than 100 charges, police said. They have been charged with offenses including assault and malicious damage and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Police refused to say whether the teens were students at the school.

A 43-year-old teacher was treated at a hospital after being hit on the head with a bat when he tried to stop the attackers, and 18 students were treated for cuts from broken glass and other minor injuries, Stewart said.

Some students reported the gang was armed with two machetes.

“We were having an assembly and a bunch of guys walked in with some machetes and baseball bats and they said they were looking for some kid,” an unnamed male student told Ten Network television news.

Stewart said the attackers defied teachers who tried to stop them but did not challenge police when they arrived and surrendered their weapons without a struggle. The raid lasted six minutes, the Education Department in New South Wales state said.