Australian authorities believe they have broken the back of a white supremacist group after the imprisonment yesterday of its deputy leader for plotting to firebomb Chinese restaurants.
Police in Western Australia hope John Van Blitterswyk's two-year prison sentence, and the exile of the Australian Nationalist Movement's leader, will bring to an end a reign of terror which began in the 1980s.
During his week-long trial, Van Blitterswyk, 56, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to attack four Chinese restaurants in Perth in 2004.
But a jury found him guilty of a plan designed to raise publicity for the release of a book extolling neo-Nazi views.
Judge Michael O'Sullivan called Van Blitterswyk 'un-Australian' and sentenced him to two years and four months in jail. 'No one in this country should be at risk of attack because of their ethnic background,' he said.
Prosecutor Alan Troy said Van Blitterswyk had been convicted of an offence that 'echoes a dark period in this state's history'.