Racial Violence Continues in Australia

[-MP-OFP-CRICON 0]

Young people riding in vehicles smashed cars and store windows in suburban Sydney late Monday, a day after thousands of drunken white youths attacked people they believed were of Arab descent at a beach in the same area in one of Australia's worst outbursts of racial violence.

Sunday's attack — apparently prompted by reports that Lebanese youths had assaulted two lifeguards — sparked retaliation by young men of Arab descent in several Sydney suburbs, fighting with police and smashing 40 cars with sticks and bats, police said. Thirty-one people were injured and 16 were arrested in hours of violence.

The rampage on Monday broke out in Cronulla, the same coastal suburb where the violence began, and in neighboring Carringbah, said Paul Bugden, spokesman for New South Wales police. Calm was restored by early Tuesday.

Bugden said six people were arrested and one person apparently was hit by a rock in Monday's violence. He did not have descriptions of those involved in the rampage, but he said it "obviously stems from the last 24-48 hours."

Australian Associated Press, citing a resident who declined to be named, said men riding in up to 50 cars and wielding baseball bats converged on Cronulla, smashing cars. Ambulances were called to help at least one injured man seen lying on the side of the road.

Steven Dawson said a bottle thrown through his apartment window in the suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands showered his 5-month-old son Caleb with glass, but did not hurt the child.

Horst Dreizner said a car had rammed into his denture store and he feared the violence would escalate. "Personally, I think it is only the beginning," he said in a telephone interview.

Elsewhere, about 300 people of Arab descent demonstrated against Sunday's attack outside one of Sydney's largest mosques, amid tight security.

The riots began Sunday after rumors circulated that youths of Lebanese descent were responsible for an attack last weekend on two lifeguards at Cronulla Beach. Police said the assault was not believed to be racially motivated.

Police, meanwhile, formed a strike force to track down the instigators of the attack, some of whom were believed to be from white supremacist groups. Police said they were also seeking an Arab man who allegedly stabbed a white man in the back.

Morris Iemma, the premier of New South Wales state, said police would use video images and photographs to track down the instigators. "Let's be very clear, the police will be unrelenting in their fight against these thugs and hooligans," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard condemned the violence, but said he did not believe racism was widespread in Australia.

"Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians irrespective of their own background and their politics," Howard said.

But he added: "I'm not going to put a general tag (of) racism on the Australian community."

Australia has long prided itself on accepting immigrants — from Italians and Greeks after World War II to families fleeing political strife in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In the last census in 2001, nearly a quarter of Australia's 20 million people said they were born overseas.

However, tensions between youths of Arabic descent and white Australians have been rising in recent years, largely because of anti-Muslim sentiment fueled by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States and deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in October 2002.

About 300,000 Muslims live in Australia, the majority in large cities.

"Arab Australians have had to cope with vilification, racism, abuse and fear of a racial backlash for a number of years, but these riots will take that fear to a new level," said Roland Jabbour, chairman of the Australian Arabic Council.

Police had increased the number of officers patrolling the beach in the Sydney suburb on Sunday after cell phone text messages urged people to gather there to retaliate for the attack on the lifeguards.

Police said more than 5,000 white youths, some wrapped in Australian flags and chanting racist slurs, fought with police, attacked people they believed to be of Arab descent and assaulted a pair of paramedics trying to help people escape the riot.

Police fought back with batons and pepper spray.

Many of the youths had been drinking heavily, police said. One white teenager had the words "We grew here, you flew here" painted on his back. Someone had written "100 percent Aussie pride" in the sand. TV broadcasts showed a group of young women attacking another woman, whose ethnicity was not clear.

The violence shocked this city of 4 million that considers itself a cultural melting pot.

"What we have seen yesterday is something I thought I would never see in Australia and perhaps we have not seen in Australia in any of our lifetimes and that is a mass call to violence based on race," Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian told Sky News.

Cronulla Beach, which is easily accessible by train but is not a popular destination for foreign tourists, is often visited by youngsters from poorer suburbs, many of them of Arab descent. Residents accuse the youths of traveling in gangs and sometimes intimidating other beachgoers.

Aborigines rioted in the Sydney neighborhood of Redfern in February 2004 after blaming police for the death of a 17-year-old boy. Forty police were wounded.

(Source: AP)

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[Messiah 2]

utter madness - every now and then we have the same in the UK up in Bradford, where it's mainly ethnic minorities rioting amongst themselves.

to see so much hate over (from what i understand it in its most basic form) race is turning civilisation back 50 years

[Thunderbird 0]

Racism is disgusting and I look forward to a time when racism will be eradicated.

[Placebo 29]

I think most decent people agree racists are scum and racism is a vile disease that needs eradicating from the human race, but 6 replies with 6 different images aren't required to make the point.

[ozanzac 0]

Without a doubt, the actions of those who took part in the riots on Sunday, was an absolute national disgrace.

The NSW government had an entire week to plan for an enormous Police response, and while 100 or so Police were situated in Cronulla in the event of rioting, I doubt anyone saw it getting anywhere near as out of hand as it did on Sunday. Since then, the police presence has been ramped up even more, and any scenes similar to those seen on sunday would probably be dealt with much more diligently.

The climax of the riots (so far) was on Sunday, where a crowd 5,000, who could only be described as 'drunk, racist, redneck, yobbos'; basically attacked anyone who 'looked more arab than aussie', without provocation. Those unfortunate enough to be targeted by the crowd had to be saved by Police, and were wisked away in ambulances under police guard.

Retalitory attacks from youths of middle eastern decent came on Sunday night, and while Police did their best to stop troublemakers with roadblocks and identification checks, around a hundred cars were vandalised to various degrees, with reports of a few bashings, & most notably a stabbing.

Monday night saw a crowd numbering in the hundreds surround a mosque in support of the muslim community, whilist youths once again caused significant property damage.

John Howard's apparent refusal to acknowledge the riots as racially fueled, shows just how blind he is to the problems that started these riots. Ethnic gangs are as much of a problem in Australia as they are anywhere else, and the apparent bashing of two lifeguards, which are seen as an Aussie icon, last weekend by men of Lebanese decent, was the straw that broke the camels back, and erupted in the riots on sunday.

The locals claim they are sick of being intimidated by the gangs, which would be partly right. Compound the problem with widespread general xenophobia, the various terrorist attacks by muslim extremists in which Australians have died, the fact that some cultures haven't assimilated into mainstream society as well as others, and the incidents where the media were targeted on the streets by associates of those caught in the terror raids during court hearings.....It was a timebomb waiting just waiting for a detonator.

As for what comes next, it won't be suprising if more ugly scenes of rioting shed light next weekend, when the drunk yobbos are likely to come back out to play.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Some suggested they should have shut the pubs and bottle shops around the area as soon as it started happening.

I suspect it would have de-fused the whole ugliness much earlier ..........

Sunday + hot weather + beer + nothing better to do = trouble

[theavonlady 2]

Gnat @ Dec. 13 2005,17:30)]Some suggested they should have shut the pubs and bottle shops around the area as soon as it started happening.

I suspect it would have de-fused the whole ugliness much earlier ..........

Sunday + hot weather + beer + nothing better to do = trouble

Well it's either that or give them so many barrels of free beer that they can't even roll over on the floor any longer.

[EiZei 0]

bashing of two lifeguards, which are seen as an Aussie icon,

I am not sure if I can ever think Australia the same again.

[ozanzac 0]

Gnat @ Dec. 14 2005,01:30)]Some suggested they should have shut the pubs and bottle shops around the area as soon as it started happening.

I suspect it would have de-fused the whole ugliness much earlier ..........

Sunday + hot weather + beer + nothing better to do = trouble

You're right, and they should have.

But, the NSW Police don't actually have the power to do that, which is why the New South Wales Parliament has been recalled in order to give police greater powers to deal with racial violence. This should include the power to close bootle shops and pubs, the power to search and impound vehicles travelling in convoy, and removal of the right of bail for rioters, during times of unrest.

Parliament will sit on Thursday to debate the new laws.

Edit: And Eizei.........The Hoff.......Flat out no.

[Major Fubar 0]

This violence is a blot on the reputation of my country.

Unfortunately, as much as he won't ever admit it, John Howard's terrorism scare-tactics have done nothing good for the average Australian's outlook on those of Middle-Eastern descent.

It doesn't help that small numbers of certain ethnic groups do form violent gangs, and tarnish the perceived image of the overwhelmingly large percentage of the rest of similar background. It's an unfortunate, and stupid, fact that people tend to judge groups of others by the worst examples.

But to form indiscriminate retaliation groups going to "get back" at anyone of a certain ethnic background is stupid, and should be discouraged in the strongest manner possible.

In my defence, it did happen in NSW, and we all know that the further North you go in Australia the higher the "redneck quotient" of the populace gets!

[Balschoiw 0]

What confuses me a bit is the "Australian pride" they base this bull on.

I mean, besides the Aborigenes all Australians are immigrants and therefore foreigners. That 100 % Australian bullshit is so off.

Maybe they shouldn´t have slept in history lessons.

They basically call for their own deportation from Australia.

Watching the TV coverage I get reminded of the typical australian behaviour in Indonesia and Thailand. Don´t get me wrong, I don´t want to feed any stereotypes but that´s the picture you get from Australians when visiting that areas of the world and they are in bilge - drinking mode...

Howard doesn´t seem to be the most competent one to solve this issue as he just claimed that it has no background and they will take care of the roots of the problem once the riots have seddled down. Competent man...not ?

[ebud 18]

In my defence, it did happen in NSW, and we all know that the further North you go in Australia the higher the "redneck quotient" of the populace gets!  

From just the look of the pictures I would have thought with all the shirtless drunkards running around they were taken in the southern U.S.

[harley 3 1185 0]

What confuses me a bit is the "Australian pride" they base this bull on.

I mean, besides the Aborigenes all Australians are immigrants and therefore foreigners. That 100 % Australian bullshit is so off.

Maybe they shouldn´t have slept in history lessons.

They basically call for their own deportation from Australia.  

Watching the TV coverage I get reminded of the typical australian behaviour in Indonesia and Thailand. Don´t get me wrong, I don´t want to feed any stereotypes but that´s the picture you get from Australians when visiting that areas of the world and they are in bilge - drinking mode...

Howard doesn´t seem to be the most competent one to solve this issue as he just claimed that it has no background and they will take care of the roots of the problem once the riots have seddled down. Competent man...not ?

Totally down-trodden natives?  98% immigrant population?  Riots every so often?  Stupid anti-terrorist campaign?

Australia right?

Add "Imported Slave Labour" to the list and then you get the United States.  And need I remind everyone of the hackneyed view of the average American?  It involves beer and a shotgun.  And then there's President Bush, who is way more incompetent than Howard.

But anyway, On Topic, Howard couldn't organise a Piss-Up in a brewery as we say in Britain.  He has, as Bill Bryson wrote, the personality of an undertaker, cut in half.  How in the hell he got re-elected I don't know.

But what to do?  From what I gather this kind of trouble has been brewing for a while, and there're offenders on both side of the colour line, and now they're both pissed off.

I did read an interesting quote in The Times today;

Quote[/b] ]"We were born here; You flew here"

That was written on a White Rioter's back.  Pretty much sums up the White rioters entire short-sighted message, doesn't it.

[jtec 0]

What confuses me a bit is the "Australian pride" they base this bull on.

I mean, besides the Aborigenes all Australians are immigrants and therefore foreigners. That 100 % Australian bullshit is so off.

Maybe they shouldn´t have slept in history lessons.

They basically call for their own deportation from Australia.  ?

You could say everyone in most countries are immigrants as from the past i bet most of us have come from a different country.  As for Sunday + hot weather + beer + nothing better to do = trouble that is not entirely true as it would happen most days if that was the case.  

Im gonna sound a bit politically incorrect but some people dont belong in certain countries.  We all have our own cultures, religions, views, and upbringings and there will always be problems with other people not either understanding or not liking these things.  I've travelled the world and have found out first hand that some places i would fit in perfectly with the people and some places i wouldnt.  

I am gonna take it one step further and say that in England we have a major problem with immigrants and you know that when a murder, rape, drug crime etc has happened you will mostly now see it as a immigrant being involved.  Just check UK's most wanted list and see what percentage are of English national.  Im not stating that all immigrants are here to commit crime (i know a few people that have moved here due to unfortunate circumstances) but when you constantly hear crimes being commited by immigrants it gets everyones back up and will create a tension between people.  I think we will always see racial tensions, as its just one of those things that has happened for generations and always will happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc.

[Heatseeker 0]

 

I am gonna take it one step further and say that in England we have a major problem with immigrants and you know that when a murder, rape, drug crime etc has happened you will mostly now see it as a immigrant being involved.  Just check UK's most wanted list and see what percentage are of English national.  Im not stating that all immigrants are here to commit crime (i know a few people that have moved here due to unfortunate circumstances) but when you constantly hear crimes being commited by immigrants it gets everyones back up and will create a tension between people.  I think we will always see racial tensions, as its just one of those things that has happened for generations and always will happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc.

Thats how it starts, lets just say that when a crime is done by a criminal of foreign origin the media gives it extra atention and everyone wants to hang all foreigners but otherwise its just another crime, thats where racist violence starts .

I would be racist if i were to judge the brittish based on the behaviour of their violent turist minorities too, wich is alot compared to other large turist groups that visit my country mind you .

[jtec 0]

Quote[/b] ]

Thats how it starts, lets just say that when a crime is done by a criminal of foreign origin the media gives it extra atention and everyone wants to hang all foreigners but otherwise its just another crime, thats where racist violence starts .

I would be racist if i were to judge the brittish based on the behaviour of their violent turist minorities too, wich is alot compared to other large turist groups that visit my country mind you   .

What country are you from my friend?  

As for being racist towards UK people, if you were to judge them by the way they act abroad that is fine by me as i dont find it offensive as long as you dont judge all Uk people because of a certain group.  

[Bordoy 0]

I don't think racism will be eradicated........ever.

Asians rioting in France = oppressed peoples

White rioting in Australia = racist riots

Quote[/b] ]I mean, besides the Aborigenes all Australians are immigrants and therefore foreigners. That 100 % Australian bullshit is so off.

Maybe they shouldn´t have slept in history lessons.

They basically call for their own deportation from Australia

Yer but this immigration happened at different times in the past.

The Angles came to Britain and settled here and now the country is named after them (England).......same with France (the Franks).

Quote[/b] ]I am gonna take it one step further and say that in England we have a major problem with immigrants and you know that when a murder, rape, drug crime etc has happened you will mostly now see it as a immigrant being involved.

I got ambushed by 3 black people a week ago. Lucky I got away, next time I'll have a weapon.

The lifeguards are all volunteers out there and are almost an institution like the scouts - One of them was blinded by the lebo thugs shoving the end of an umbrella in his eye - Retaliation was inevitable.

Its another wake up call to the lilly-livered liberals out there that we do not live in a PC world in reality. The undercurrents of race hate are boiling in all countries from Australia to America and it takes little to kick it off.

Hopefully if lessons can be learned, it is that attempts to intigrate lebos and ausies is just not a worker so don't do.

[GoOB 0]

I think we will always see racial tensions, as its just one of those things that has happened for generations and always will happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc.

Or until people get their hazy minds out of their own arses and realize that the motives behind criminal behaviour aren't affected by skin color or cultural heritage. But by different social standards in different communities. Of course the kid with green skin from the poor suburb is more liable to commit crimes than the posh kid with red skin from the rich suburb.

There will always be tension between humans, if the people who are hateful of people with another skin colour than their own comitting crimes weren't hateful because of just that. They'd be hateful of red-haired blokes because the neighour has red hair and he forgot to return the lawn-mower on time.

Accepting racism as a thing that always will be around is a really sad attitude by the way. Accepting racism (or for that matter "racial tensions") in any form is sad.

EDIT: Oh, and this post isn't aimed at the person i quoted BTW, just a general rant that makes little to no sense.

[Bordoy 0]

Quote[/b] ]Accepting racism as a thing that always will be around is a really sad attitude by the way. Accepting racism (or for that matter "racial tensions") in any form is sad.

I'm certainly not accepting it but I can say it will always be around. But it MAY go, and I hope it does but I doubt it would be in my lifetime (17 yr old)

[jtec 0]

Accepting racism as a thing that always will be around is a really sad attitude by the way. Accepting racism (or for that matter "racial tensions") in any form is sad.

EDIT: Oh, and this post isn't aimed at the person i quoted BTW, just a general rant that makes little to no sense.

It is a fact that it has always been around no doubt about it. And as i posted before "racism will always happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc".

[GoOB 0]

Accepting racism as a thing that always will be around is a really sad attitude by the way. Accepting racism (or for that matter "racial tensions") in any form is sad.

It is a fact that it has always been around no doubt about it. And as i posted before "racism will always happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc".

Yes, racism HAS always been around, but accepting the fact that it is around is the thing that I see as sad, and quite disturbing.

Yes, but you also said that racism starts (to some extents) when certain minorities commit act of crimes, no? So by that logic you think that raping, killing and murdering is perfectly natural in certain cultures?

(I know I suck at this, but bear with me. I think I'm learning to think before I type )

EDIT: Added a little parenthesis.

[Bordoy 0]

Accepting racism as a thing that always will be around is a really sad attitude by the way. Accepting racism (or for that matter "racial tensions") in any form is sad.

EDIT: Oh, and this post isn't aimed at the person i quoted BTW, just a general rant that makes little to no sense.

It is a fact that it has always been around no doubt about it.  And as i posted before "racism will always happen untill we speak the same language, believe in the same god and are taught the same morals etc etc etc".

Agree, and that would never ever happen

[Major Fubar 0]

I can understand why people felt the need to retaliate for the initial attacks on the Lifesavers, but to retaliate against a whole race, or whole ethnic cross section, is moronic. If they had sought out the individual attackers and given them a damn good beating, I'd say more power to them. But all they did was act like a bunch of ignorant, pathetic, scared, stupid, redneck thugs.

I really do think Howard's anti-terror scare tactics have significantly contributed to the climate that led to these riots. It has led to the average Australian being subtly (and not-so-subtly) educated that Middle-Easteners and Muslims are objects of suspicion, and potentially dangerous; this, in turn, has lead to Muslims and those of Middle-Eastern descent feeling marginalised and discriminated against. It's a vicious circle.

I sincerely hope that the international community realise that this is a very isolated incident in Australia's recent history. Speaking for myself, I think I live in a great country, and wouldn't trade it for anywhere else (well, maybe Amsterdam).

[Balschoiw 0]

Racism is just the lame excuse for some that fail miserably in their own lives and want to blame that on others.

For matters of stupidity, they blame it on someone who doesn´t look like them. That´s the most easy thing for them as they are uneducated, lazy, unemployed because of their lack of education and they think it´s a good thing to beat up some who don´t look like them as they know no better way of distinguishing people.

That´s the rascist mob. It doesn´t matter if some freak attacked lifeguards or Barbie. It´s just the fact that they search for an excuse to go rampant. The most easy way to do so is to go rampant on someone who doesn´t look like you. That makes it easier for no-brain-racist to judge who´s on the right side.

The days of one-country-one people are over. We have arrived in the 21st century. Racists are just the scum of a nation and we all have an obligation to get rid of them wherever they pop up if we want to find a way that makes it easy for all of us to live together.

I´m surprised that young people are so open for racist ideas as they are the ones who benefit most of open minded societies where they can speak out without getting put to a gulag.

[GoOB 0]

I think I live in a great country, and wouldn't trade it for anywhere else (well, maybe Amsterdam).

Who wouldn't want to live there?

Just a semi-related question... Are there any prominent extreme (free for interpretation ) right-wing parties in Australia?

Good post by the way Bals. Spot on.