Sydney Violence

[Mr.Flint]

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Racial tension erupted into violence on a Sydney beach on Sunday when around 5,000 people, some yelling racist chants, attacked youths of a Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their stretch of beach.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...archived=False

Any insight on this?

the video of it looks more of a sports fans riot...

[RZZZA]

What?! Aussies NOT being mellow? I never thought I'd see the day...Oi! Er...whats up down under?

[Last Roman]

how un-Australian of them.

[militiaman]

It's pretty crazy of though, I think sometimes we take the idea of nationalism too far. I guess alot of them were too drunk to really understand what they were doing, and they just got caught up in the feeling of having "fun". I bet if they thought about it for two seconds they'd realise that it was wrong.

[{nF}remix]

wow and i thought australia was the safest place on earth...

[Guderian]

Beach violence is nothing new here, there are always a bunch of "surfies" claiming that the beach is theres. Only this time it got out of hand, a life guard got beaten up by arabs, the surfies sent a sms saying something like "all true blooded aussies come down to Cronulla beach for an arab bashing". 5000 or so turned up (my mistake here it was actually the 5000 includes people who were already at the beach, 5000 did not turn up due to the SMS) and started to harrass anyone who even looked like they were arabs. Although most left after a few hours and only hardcore elements remained throughtout the day. The arabs called in reinforcements, the police who had already setup there after intercepting the sms prevented anything major happening, although some arabs and people who looked like arabs were beaten up.

Ugly descent into violent thuggery
From:
By Luke McIlveen

December 12, 2005


CRONULLA'S day of shame began like any normal Sunday.
Families enjoyed a morning swim and early cloud gave way to brilliant December sunshine.

A warning of the events to come was the appearance of dozens of flags, including the Eureka flag, along The Kingsway leading into Cronulla.

By midday the beachfront concourse at North Cronulla resembled a summer cricket match with thousands of bare-chested locals chanting and drinking.

A group of mates ran a sausage sizzle from the back of their ute, blasting out favourites by AC/DC and Cold Chisel.

But as the beer flowed the day began to turn ugly. Cries of "f... off Leb" goaded the crowd.

Surfers young and old, bikies, white supremacists, and even families with young children joined in the chants.

Just after 1pm (AEDT) the throng descended on Northies Hotel where a Middle Eastern man was rumoured to be hiding.

The mob screamed for him to show himself, chanting "string him up".

They eventually found three Middle Eastern youths in the park in front of North Cronulla Surf Club and the inevitable happened.

One of the youths stepped into a sandpit in the children's playground, challenging the crowd to a fight.

He did not have to wait long. Locals bombarded him with punches, kicking him when he went down. Bleeding from facial cuts he was led to safety by dozens of police.

There was more beer in the sun and more trouble to follow.

Two girls of Middle Eastern descent were the next victims. As they walked along the street another group of teenage girls pushed them to the ground and assaulted them.

The baying crowd erupted again, this time with calls of "cat fight" and "kill the Leb b......".

Police parted the crowd and pulled the girls out, rushing them through a side entrance of Northies Hotel.

Riot squad police were out in force, but they could do little except stand and watch while the crowd whipped itself into a drunken frenzy.

With the PolAir helicopter overhead, the crowd swarmed towards Cronulla station with talk of catching a train to Bankstown to "bash Lebs".

Despite police resistance, several made it on to a train where they isolated and attacked one man.

"This has been coming. It's not about race, it's about respect and pride," said local volunteer lifesaver Luke O'Brien.

The mob nearby sang "I am, you are, we are Australian".

It may have begun as a show of pride but by day's end it was a display of the worst side of humanity.

ws Home | Story
Strike force to pursue 'thugs'
From:
By staff writers and wires

December 12, 2005

A POLICE strike force has been set up to track down the "thugs and hooligans" responsible for inciting the racial violence at Sydney's beaches, the New South Wales Premier said today.
Morris Iemma said there would be a "relentless" campaign to pursue people involved in the violence, which he said showed "the ugly face of racism in this country".

Police would be using video and photographic evidence that appeared in the media today to help identify those behind the violence, he said.

Police are also reviewing tactics in anticipation of more possible violence over the coming days, after yesterday ended with 28 people being arrested and more than 30 being taken to hospital, while around 40 cars were smashed up with baseball bats in revenge attacks.

"Let's be very clear, the police will be unrelenting in their fight against these thugs and hooligans," the Premier said.

Prime Minister John Howard, at a separate press conference, condemned the violence.

He said attacking anyone on the basis of their race or ethnicity was unacceptable.

Mr Iemma said part of the response plan was "to take the heat out ... and to lower the temperature, to get the hotheads to understand that they pull their heads in or they get locked up."

The day began with a demonstration at Cronulla where more than 5000 people gathered, chanting racist slogans and chasing and bashing individuals of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance.

A series of apparent revenge attacks - including two stabbings and the wrecking of cars - continued through the night.

The violence has drawn condemnation from Mr Iemma, police and community groups.

Some involved in the trouble have been identified as being associated with neo-Nazi groups and seen distributing extremist literature (full story).

Asked about reports that further riots were planned for midday next Sunday, Mr Iemma said police were "continuing to refine and develop their operational responses".

He said there would be a review of "the detail of the operational response that police would be providing, not just for the weekend but throughout this week".

Asked if the police strike force could prevent another riot like yesterday's, Mr Iemma said: "There are a number of measures in place to deal with situations like that at the weekend".

Police were forced to use capsicum spray and batons in their battle to subdue the Cronulla demonstrators, who pelted officers with bottles and stomped on patrol cars.

Later, a 23-year-old man was injured and more than 40 cars smashed with baseball bats in an apparent revenge attack at Maroubra, in Sydney's east.

A group of about 60 men of Middle Eastern appearance and armed with baseball bats smashed the windows of parked cars about 9pm (AEDT).

The group then clashed with local gang, the Bra Boys, outside the Maroubra Bay Hotel.

A 23-year-old Maroubra man was taken to Prince of Wales hospital after he was stabbed with a sharp implement, believed to be a stick or nail, in the hip.

Later, a second 23-year-old man was stabbed in the back by a group of males, described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, at a golf club at Woolooware, in Sydney's south.

He was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Riot police were also called to Brighton-le-Sands, in Sydney's south, overnight to control a group of about 200 brawling youths who had reportedly thrown projectiles at police.

Source

A middle eastern man suffering the crowds anger






News.com.au is not a very good source IMO but the Sydney morning herald site (where I usually get my info) seems to be down.

[Guderian]

They were drunk, I mean not just drunk but ******...and when your that smashed and everyone is telling you to bash the arabs I think anyone would do it...

[imb39]

They were drunk, I mean not just drunk but ******...and when your that smashed and everyone is telling you to bash the arabs I think anyone would do it...

I thought it was just the English who did that sort of thing.

[Mr.Flint]

Wait wasnt the life guard an arab himself?

[militiaman]

No, I'm pretty sure they (there were two) were white. It was arabs who bashed him. Btw does anyone have a source for that, I've heard it mentioned but I haven't seen it in any internet articales or in the newspapers.

[Mr.Flint]

Whats interesting that this matter was going on for a week already, with todays riot as the culmination.

[Guderian]

I didn't think this would turn out like this, beach brawls are common. I've only seen snippets of news on the tele, and on sunday's newspaper. Sunday's newspaper had a picture of Cronulla beach deserted at noon while Bondi beach was absolutely packed...so I don't know where this "5000" came from even.

All these sources are absolute crap...mostly trying to dramatise the event instead of giving actual details. Just gotta wait till the SMH site is back up...

@Imb39

Nah we have hooligans here too, we have soccer hooligans but most of the attention goes to...wait for it...cricket hooligans

[viteLius]

I guess those racist, spoiled beach bogans don't understand the irony of there 'pure australian' bs. I hope the ignorance and selfishness of many Australians doesnt become too widespread.

[wilpuri]

May be they feel the politicians are ignoring them and they feel marginalized politically? Perhaps they are poor and discriminated against?

[Sam]

Ok, before I say anything else, I want to say that I am in no way racist, I have mediterranean and middle eastern friends and teachers at university who I get along with extremely well. The majority of the middle eastern community in Australia are no different to those that I know and trust. Its just a few idiots who make thousands look bad, and in return, for the rest of the australian community, a few thousand idiots have made millions look bad.

Now, about these few middle eastern troublemakers. I highly recommend that you read this. Seriously, you have to read that document if you want to know whats really going on. At least read the blue parts.

The riots were sparked by Lebanese gang activity in Cronulla, and in particular on the beach. I'll list what it says in the local paper, that these gangs have done:
- One woman was walking with her kids on the beach, and a group of about a dozen men were cussing loudly, she asked them to stop swearing, and in return she got punched in the face.
- The two lifesavers, who are volunteer workers, were almost beaten to death by a group of upto 20 men.
- The lebanese men have been seen calling small girls, under 10 years old, 'tarts' and 'sluts'.
- The lebanese gangs head to the beach regularly looking for trouble. They kick balls into groups of people, cuss, and are extremely abrasive. As soon as anything starts, upto a dozen more of them join in.

That is all I will post on that, but dont for one second think that it stops there. That isn't even the beginning.

Quotes from here:
- "They kick sand into your face and scream the most disgusting abuse for no reason at all. A lot of locals are too scared to surf down here any more,"
- Others described the abuse of a pregnant woman because she was taking up room on a stair way to the beach as one of the most shocking recent incidents at the beach.
- The father of a 16-year-old girl said she had been too afraid to return to the beach after she and two friends were asked if they were virgins by a group of men. When she failed to respond the gang told her she would be carried off the beach and it was only when she spotted a friend nearby that the two girls were able to escape.
- It can also be confirmed that Sunday's brutal attack was not the first, with a council lifeguard chased by a machete wielding man two years ago.

Mob justice is not the way to solve this problem, the gangs will steer clear until there is little police and mob activity, and then they will be back, and likely in greater number. It could well spawn guerilla style tactics among the gangsters. At least the problem has finally been recognised.

[RZZZA]

Damn, where is Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme when you need them? They'd bust up those gang of lebanese hoodlums right quick...er...or have I been watching too many movies? Hmm...maybe this situation doesn't call for a radical vigilante with knowledge of martial arts to open a can of whoop ass...can it be? A problem that cant be solved by bad ass inarticulate martial artists?

[Guderian]

They are simply hooligans, if you ever go down to a beach in Australia you are likely to see the surfie "gangs"...as I said beach fights are common, calling "the boys" is also a common thing. Poor...lol most of these guys are spoiled rich kids who leech off their parents money and don't actually work. Politically marginalized? more like beach politics. The worst result would be that people stop going to Cronulla beach...actually that might be a good thing since then I can go down there and have the beach to myself muahah...

[RZZZA]

Damn I hate beach bums. And Australia is like almost all one big beach so I pity you aussies...I also cant stand it when kids have a problem and they all go call their "boys" or "homies" or whatever and turn it into a mob war. Where I live, in my small community, we had the decency to keep disagreements between 2 people a 1 on 1 face off type of thing. Sure each one of the guys "homeboys" would show up just to make sure nothing went wrong, but they'd usually stand back and let the two guys fight it out. In 2 weeks everyone would be friends again.

This is if everyone was from the same highschool and have been friend for awhile. What we did to kids from other highschools...well thats a whole other rule system...no holds barred there. And some kids could be really cruel and downright criminal.

[militiaman]

Quotes from here:
- "They kick sand into your face and scream the most disgusting abuse for no reason at all. A lot of locals are too scared to surf down here any more,"
- Others described the abuse of a pregnant woman because she was taking up room on a stair way to the beach as one of the most shocking recent incidents at the beach.
- The father of a 16-year-old girl said she had been too afraid to return to the beach after she and two friends were asked if they were virgins by a group of men. When she failed to respond the gang told her she would be carried off the beach and it was only when she spotted a friend nearby that the two girls were able to escape.
- It can also be confirmed that Sunday's brutal attack was not the first, with a council lifeguard chased by a machete wielding man two years ago.

And I've heard sop stories on the news from Lebanese people. Yes, it's definetely a problem, but that was not a way of dealing with the situation. These people should have reported these things to the police. If they don't handle it well then it's their (the police's) fault. There was no need for 100's of people to roam the streets beating up innocents.

Reading that first document you mention, if this guy saw all of this going on he should've reported it. If the crime was that bad the police should've done something.

[Sam]

And I've heard sop stories on the news from Lebanese people. Yes, it's definetely a problem, but that was not a way of dealing with the situation. These people should have reported these things to the police. If they don't handle it well then it's their (the police's) fault. There was no need for 100's of people to roam the streets beating up innocents.

Reading that first document you mention, if this guy saw all of this going on he should've reported it. If the crime was that bad the police should've done something.

I said that the mobs are not the solution.

The thing is, after many years of unpunished crimes against white Australians (YES, the gangsters who start all this trouble ARE RACIST, just because white Australians are a majority, people think that they can't be discriminated against racially, which is of course blatantly false), mass numbers of people get fed up, and without police action vigilante justice is inevitable.

The first document was written by an ex-police officer with decades of gang fighting experience. The problem was that the police could do nothing. The reason the gangsters get away with it is because of a lack of police power, combined with these ethnic minorities hiding beneath racial vilification laws. These gangsters have murdered people, and gotten away with it. People can only take so much. The police commissioners will do anything to look good in the public eye, even if they have to lie and ignore their jobs. They aren't there to look good, they should be doing their jobs.

I do feel very bad for those 2 middle eastern girls who were beaten up, and for the Italian man, who because of his colour, was almost beaten up. I am proud that Australians will stand up for each other, but what these mobs are doing is wrong.