Racial tension sparks Sydney riots

Racial tension sparks Sydney riots
12 December 2005

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ON THE GROUND: A man is arrested by police at North Cronulla after a day of racial violence at the beach.
Fairfax

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RIOT CONTROL: Racial tension erupted into violence in Sydney yesterday when 5000 people converged to defend their beach from what they believe are gangs of Middle East background after two young surf lifesavers were attacked last week.
Reuters

SYDNEY: Racial tension erupted into violence on a Sydney beach on Sunday when around 5000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of a Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their stretch of beach.

Thousands of local surfers and beachgoers gathered at Cronulla Beach after two young lifesavers were attacked last Sunday by a group of young men from Sydney's western suburbs.

Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle East appearance at the beach in Sydney's south, sending some cowering into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence.

By Sunday night, violence had spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where men armed with baseball bats smashed cars. Police said a man was stabbed in the back in south Sydney in what media reports said appeared to be further racial violence.


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http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3509223a10,00.html

They'll say it's the Middle Easterners fault, even though the white Australian started the riots

I've been getting news on this from a friend in Sydney.

Two female lifeguards were attacked by Middle Eastern men, supposedly for being whores and not wearing full length black shrouds while on duty. Get it? LIFEGUARDS.

The mob formed in response to that.

No, two wrongs never make a right, but you do need to put this into perspective. This riot was originally started by two Middle Eastern fundie nutcases who had the unmitigated gall to beat up lifeguards for not adhering to their fucking fundie dress code.

I'd feel a bit better about this had the two fundie wack jobs been caught and "fallen down the stairs" on their way to being booked. However, you do need to put this into perspective. Likely there wouldn't have been any sort of racially motiviated riot without the first provocation by religious nuts.

Moral of the story: if you're a in a minority, don't bet on forcing a majority to adapt to your needs.

Did the men who attacked the lifeguards get arrested?

Yesterday's events have been building for some time.

For weeks, maybe months, groups from (let's call them Team A) have allegedly been causing a ruckus on the beach and handing out bashings to anyone who questioned them. This has apparently included things like taunting women to get their husbands/boyfriends to step in, then using 30-to-1 tactics to beat up the men.

A complete lack of police response resulted in the locals sorting it out for themselves.

I don't condone yesterday's little fracas, but it could have been avoided if there was a real and regular police presence in the area. Years of budget cuts and neglect have left these area's open to these things happening. The police have been sent in now, but the horse has already bolted, policing shouldn't be that reactionary, it could have been used preventatively.

The lifeguard incident was "the final straw", mainly because lifeguards have an high position of respect in Australian society.

I would suggest the same thing would have happened if the original group were bikies, skin heads, hare krishna's or anyone else.