Violence in Australia

[fintstone]

What's up Stuart?

Today: December 11, 2005 at 23:41:2 PST

Racial Violence Shocks Australian City
By MIKE CORDER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -

Thousands of drunken white youths attacked police and people they believed were Arab immigrants at a Sydney beach on Sunday, angered by reports that youths of Lebanese descent had assaulted two lifeguards.

Young men of Arab descent retaliated in several Sydney suburbs, fighting with police and smashing 40 cars with sticks and bats, police said.

Thirty-one people were injured and 28 were arrested in hours of violence. Police said they were seeking an Arab man who allegedly stabbed a white man in the back.

The city was calm Monday, and police formed a strike force to track down the instigators.

Some 5,000 white youths, wrapped in Australian flags and chanting racist slurs, fought with police, attacked people of Arab appearance and assaulted a pair of paramedics at Cronulla beach in southern Sydney, police said. Police fought back with batons and pepper spray.

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.

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

The rioters were reacting to reports that youths of Lebanese descent were responsible for an attack last weekend on two of the beach's lifeguards.

Police had increased the number of officers patrolling the beach after mobile phone text messages circulated calling for retaliation for the attack on the guards.

One white teenager among the rioters had the words "We grew here, you flew here" painted on his back. On the sand, someone had written "100 percent Aussie pride."

Two paramedics in an ambulance were injured as they tried to help youths trying to escape rioters, when members of the mob smashed the vehicle's windows and kicked its doors.

TV broadcasts showed a group of young women attacking another woman, whose ethnicity was not immediately clear.

The violence shocked this city of 4 million which prides itself on being a cultural melting pot.

"Our disgrace," said a front page headline in Sydney's Daily Telegraph. Below was a picture of white youths attacking a man of Arab appearance on a train.

"Let's be very clear, the police will be unrelenting in their fight against these thugs and hooligans," said Morris Iemma, the leader of New South Wales state. He said the riots "showed the ugly side of racism in this country."

Kevin Schreiber, the mayor of the district where Cronulla is located, said he was devastated by the rampage, but that he believed the rioters came "from far and wide to participate."

Cronulla, one of the few beaches in Sydney that is easily accessible by train, 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.

Bruce Baird, a government lawmaker, said anti-Muslim sentiment has risen in Australia since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 88 Australians. He noted that six women from Cronulla were killed in the Bali bombings.

"Where this riot took place is actually the site of where we've got the Bali memorial for these women," Baird told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Kuranda Seyit, director of the Forum of Australia's Islamic Relations, described Australia as a "pluralist society, with many faiths and traditions all raveled into one."

He added: "This is the unique success of this nation, and we cannot let it fall into chaos and lawlessness."

[gavinlit]

Well I can tell you what's up. That beach is about 20klicks from my house and the only one directly reached by a train line in sydney. Hence it gets plenty of 'blow ins' from other parts of sydney who don't mix particularly well with the local surfing culture.

This particular media article (I'm sure you will appreciate this fint)seems to be stretching the facts somewhat. Check out smh.com.au for a more balanced report. Here's what I understand:
Two young lifesavers got bashed on the weekend at north cronulla beach
The locals (and much of sydney), obviously pretty upset, got heated up.
A text message circulated of a 'call to arms type' for all shire residents to get down to the beach on sunday.
As such a large police presence on the beach on sunday & barely anyone else there - there's some pics on the daily telegraph site of an empty beach on a hot sunday.
I havn't heard anything on the news about any other riots - associated or otherwise. Similarly none of the papers I read (both spectrums) reported 5000 people clashing with police. First I've heard of it right here. One of my mates in the fireis is also in the local polic so I'll ask him at drill this week but it sounds like media bs to me.

[Adam]

They had some footage from the beginning of the "protest", where there were hundreds, not "thousands" of locals drinking and chanting, which became violent when some Arabs appeared. The mob was drunken and rowdy - pretty soon bottles were flying & people getting punched up.





There was some pretty frightening footage of two Lebanese guys in their 20s getting hammered in a train carriage at a station, until two cops went in, swinging batons to rescue them. I think the mob would have beaten them to death, watching the footage...

I felt sick watching our flag being waved while it was going on.

[fintstone]

Well Gavin, I suspected it to be a bit overblown. generally Aussies are pretty mellow....but tough customers when necessary...Now you see what I mean by the media though.

The last time I was in Sydney, I was down by the harbor around midnight talking to three (very large) drunken yanks and taking night photos of the opera house when 3 young Arabs (I believe) passed by and stared a bit. One of the Americans said something like "what are you looking at?" The Arabs passed on by (discretion before valor), but one was clearly very angry. I talked the Americans into going home and sleeping it off. About 20 minutes later the 3 guys came back and wanted to rough me up a bit in retaliation (and possibly rob me, I'm not sure).

[gavinlit]

Ok - I've just checked the latest news. More ugly than I thought & not a good thing. It's been coming for some time at cronulla. No problems like this at Maroubra. I think we'll see the local attitude at Cronulla changing quite a bit after this.

[Victor]

What has Stuart got to do with this?

[Victor]

Originally posted by fintstone
Aussies are pretty mellow....but tough customers when necessary...

Sure we are.

But I don't know if what is happening here is "necessary"....unless I am missing something.

Did a pack of idiots organise a fight with another pack of idiots? And did either one of these packs of idiots think they could change the mind of the other idiots?

There will always be short tempered idiots of every race, and every background - I have known plenty of non-arabic looking Aussies who would look at you crooked and pick a fight out of the blue too. You just happened to get picked on by three jerks with monobrows...........

BREAKING NEWS:

Neo "Nazis" are copping the blame for starting it all.

[Adam]

Here's a more detailed article on the matter.

[Adam]

Whoa - it's erupted again! More violence overnight.

[Matt Holcomb]

Alan Jones: I'm the person that's led this charge

By David Marr, Sydney
December 13, 2005

BY THURSDAY last week Alan Jones was screaming like a race caller whose horse was coming home. "I'm the person that's led this charge here. Nobody wanted to know about North Cronulla, now it's gathered to this."

The riot was still three days away and Sydney's highest-rating breakfast radio host had a heap of anonymous emails to whip his 2GB listeners along. "Alan, it's not just a few Middle Eastern bastards at the weekend, it's thousands. Cronulla is a very long beach and it's been taken over by this scum. It's not a few causing trouble. It's all of them."

Sunday's trouble did not come out of the blue. It was brewing all week on talkback radio — particularly on 2GB.

Radio doesn't get much grimmer than Alan Jones' efforts in the days before the Cronulla riot. He was dead keen for a demo at the beach — "a rally, a street march, call it what you will. A community show of force."

He assured his huge audience he "understood" why that famous text message went out and he read it right through again on air. "Come to Cronulla this weekend to take revenge. This Sunday every Aussie in the Shire get down to North Cronulla to support the Leb and wog bashing day …"

Daily he cautioned his listeners not to take the law into their own hands, but he warmed to listeners who had exactly that on their minds.

Last Thursday Charlie rang to suggest all junior footballers in the Shire gather on the beach to support the lifesavers. "Good stuff, good stuff," said Jones.

"I tell you who we want to encourage, Charlie, all the Pacific Island people because, you want to know something, they don't take any nonsense. They are proud to be here — all those Samoans and Fijians. They love being here. And they say, 'Uh huh, uh huh. You step out of line, look out.' And, of course, cowards always run, don't they?"

When John called on Tuesday to bluntly recommend vigilante action — "If the police can't do the job, the next tier is us" — Jones did not dissent. "Yeh. Good on you, John." And when he then offered a maxim his father had picked up during the war — "Shoot one, the rest will run" — the broadcaster roared with laughter. "No, you don't play Queensberry's rules. Good on you, John."

It was horrible stuff, larded with self-congratulation. And pity poor Berta — "not of a Middle Eastern family" — who tried to argue there were two sides to this story. When she reported hearing "really derogatory remarks" aimed at Middle Eastern people on Cronulla beach, Jones cut her off: "Let's not get too carried away, Berta. We don't have Anglo-Saxon kids out there raping women in western Sydney."

Yesterday, 2GB broadcasters claimed two-thirds of calls coming into the station supported "what happened" at Cronulla on Sunday. But Alan Jones is not around to deal with the aftermath. He's having a well-earned holiday.

TALKBACK RADIO

CALLER TO 2UE, SYDNEY
MOIR: Look, you know, I feel like everybody else. I'm really upset about this whole thing. I grew up in Cronulla. I'm a Cronulla girl, and I reverted to Islam four years ago, and I get so upset to hear people talking about these thugs, these Lebanese thugs, in terms of Islam.

CALLER TO 2GB, SYDNEY
MARK: It's not about keeping Australia white, it's about keeping Australia right — having the right people, the right culture and the right feeling. What we've got here now is totally away from where we want to be.

CALLER TO 3AW
DOROTHY: I'd class those ones who took part in that yesterday, they're not fit to be called Aussies — dirty, filthy, drunken little scumbags.

[Porsche]

It's scary stuff.

[Victor]

Hopefully the local (Melbourne) morons will not follow the example of those in Sydney.

[Matt Holcomb]

Originally posted by Victor
Hopefully the local (Melbourne) morons will not follow the example of those in Sydney.

I think there's a slightly higher proportion of Anglo boneheads in NSW than in Victoria.

I also think the repugnant behaviour displayed over the weekend by the bogan brigade is symptomatic of the many cultural differences between the two states.

For example, Anglo men in NSW have always been more brutish and prone to violence thanks to the state's preferred football code ....

[Adam]

The joke emails are already flying around...

[Joeaksa]

BBC was just broadcasting lots of video on this. Showed lots of bottle throwing and even some ladies getting in on the fight.

Will have to back up Victors view on some of this. I have several Aussie friends and like some of the Brits I know, there are times that they seem to like getting pissed (drunk) and just fighting. Does not matter who, just have a swing at someone. I have spent a lot of time in Sydney and no problems but that was a couple of years ago.

BBC is saying that they feel that some of the people are mad after the Bali bombing and have had enough. Also, if there are guys from Samoa and Fiji there as Matt's post suggests, it could get interesting. Everyone of them I have known were massive, like 1.8 cm and 120 kilos (6 foot and 240) MINIMUM and could hold their own in any fight.

Could be interesting...

Joe A

[Bill Douglas]

The Lebanese youths/gangs have taken over Parramatta (West Sydney) and a number of other parts of town and intended to take over Cronulla Beach. I think it was a fairly honorable thing to do, to turn up in force and fight them off. And the press have severly missrepresented the situation. To those who haven't been to Cronulla; it's a very nice beach side suburb, populated by a really nice bunch of people including a lot of upper middle class elderly folk. Not at all suited to a bunch of Lebanese thugs.

[911pcars]

" ....generally Aussies are pretty mellow....but tough customers when necessary."

Maybe in other circumstances that statement is to be admired, but how does "tough" relate to the people in that crowd beating up one person? People are most always "tough" in a crowd-mentality. Yeah, these tough guys are to be admired.

Sherwood

[fintstone]

Originally posted by Victor
Sure we are.

But I don't know if what is happening here is "necessary"....unless I am missing something.

Did a pack of idiots organise a fight with another pack of idiots? And did either one of these packs of idiots think they could change the mind of the other idiots?

There will always be short tempered idiots of every race, and every background - I have known plenty of non-arabic looking Aussies who would look at you crooked and pick a fight out of the blue too. You just happened to get picked on by three jerks with monobrows...........

BREAKING NEWS:

Neo "Nazis" are copping the blame for starting it all.

Obviously the guys I usually deal with from Aus are SAS so fighting when "necessary"...means just that. No slight there.

Actually, I was lucky that it was these guys because they were not much bigger than me and did not take a punch very well... all talk and intimidation.....

[Joeaksa]

Fint,

I know several SAS guys and they cultivate the look that they have. They are not looking for the big, brawney type of soldier, they want people who can blend into a crowd when needed. They are called the "baby faced killers" because they look just like normal people until called upon to do their job, and we all know what that is.

Also know some of the SEAL's and its a whole different kettle of fish with them. You can usually spot them as they are usually big well built boys and just scare you with their size and build.

Glad both are on our side and neither of which would be in the middle of a fight situation like this, unless it were to pull the innocent person out of the mix to safety. They are men to be respected.

Joe A

[aap1966]

For the sake of the non-Aussies....
2 sides to every story. The display at Cronulla Beach was disgusting, esp the targeting of individuals for mob attack. However, as someone who grew up in Sydney, this has been coming for the past 20 years. Unfortunately, Lebanese males are grossly over-represented in "petty crime", such as muggings, bashings and intimidation. Even 20 years ago, the Lebanese at the public school I attended attempted to establish a reign of intimidation and thuggery. It seems almost anyone living in Sydney (apart from those in the wealthier suburbs) will have at least a few stories of unpleasant personal encounters with these "gangs". Recently some were gaoled for 55 years for cruising the streets for "Australian" girls and gang-raping them. Local girls using Cronulla Beach will tell stories of sunbaking and suddenly finding themselves encircled by a group of Lebanese males who will stand in silence before making a comment along the lines of "she's not worth 55 years', then walking off. Pre-pubescent girls on the beach have been verbally abused for wearing bikini swimsuits, and so it goes on. The precipitant for the riots was the bashing of two life-savers by a group of lebanese males.

I have often said that Australia would never have a civil war because it would interfere with the weekend. We are usually pretty laid back. What happened last weekend was the end result of usually laid back individuals been pushed too far for too long. The life-savers being bashed was the straw that broke the camels back. Lebanese violence has been ignored for so long under the guise of "political correctness" that this sort of resentment has been allowed to fester. Until very recently, even to suggest that a violence problem was associated with a particular ethnic group was to risk being subject to accusations of racism and hate-mongering form the self appointed intelligentsia. Before anyone accuses me of being a red-neck...my 9 y.o. daughter had to do an assignment on "My Hero"--she chose Martin Luther King. Racism stinks, but racism cuts both ways.