Days on the run limited for church rioters, police warn
People allegedly involved in a violent riot following a stabbing at a western Sydney church are being urged to hand themselves in as investigators hone in on those yet to be charged over the ugly melee.
Images of another nine suspects - eight men and one woman - were publicly released on Tuesday as police look for what they described as some of the most violent offenders in the 2000-person-strong riot.
The incident at Wakeley followed the stabbing of Assyrian church bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and priest Isaac Royel during a live-streamed sermon on April 15.
The teenager allegedly responsible for the attack has been charged with committing a terrorist act, while 14 people are before the courts over the subsequent riot in which police and paramedics were pelted with improvised projectiles.
NSW Police acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said the nine people depicted in the latest images "need to come and see us before we knock on the door".
"The forensic examination will be very thorough and there will be people identified through the review process," he told reporters.
Police have said as many as 50 people could be involved in committing violent or destructive acts during the riot, during which police were forced to shelter in the church with the detained teenage suspect.
The community had been outstanding in providing assistance and information had been coming through to investigators around the clock, Mr Holland said.
Police were not concerned about any reprisal attacks following the allegedly religiously motivated stabbing, but patrols at places of worship remained in place, he said.
Threats were made against Lakemba Mosque, one of Australia's largest Muslim places of worship, following the church attack.
The Wakeley stabbing and other high-profile knife attacks in NSW - including the murders of six people at an eastern Sydney shopping centre - have spurred the proposed introduction of tougher laws to target the crimes.
Police will be given the power to conduct so-called "wanding" search operations in designated areas without a warrant, while the sales of most knives to minors will be banned under the planned changes.
