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billybrobby
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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Racial unrest as thousands riot at Australian beach
SYDNEY (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." |
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manlyboy
Joined: 01 Aug 2004
Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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A segment of the Lebanese community in Sydney have had a day of reckoning coming for a long time now. A lot of the Lebanese are great people, but the young hoodlums who've been terrorizing people on Sydney beaches and burning Australian flags have brought it on themselves. The recent bashing of a surf life saver was the final straw. Surf life savers are an iconic part of Australian culture, and attacking one of them is like attacking us all.
The "racist mob" which is still out in force is not just made up of white supremacists, or even blonde haired blue-eyed surfer boys. The islander community, and various other groups have joined up with them. I guarantee you won't find any other groups siding with the "Bankstown Boys". |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| The problem is, Lebanese gangs weren't targeted by the drunken mob, rather random people who happened to be at the beach, including 15 & 10 year old sisters, born and bred in Australia who were attacked 'just for looking 'ethnic'. The fact that you condone their actions shows your true colors Oi,Oi, Oi! |
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manlyboy
Joined: 01 Aug 2004
Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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| fidel wrote: |
| The problem is, Lebanese gangs weren't targeted by the drunken mob, rather random people who happened to be at the beach, including 15 & 10 year old sisters, born and bred in Australia who were attacked 'just for looking 'ethnic'. The fact that you condone their actions shows your true colors Oi,Oi, Oi! |
You're right. You go too far in assuming that I condone mob violence, and implying I am a racist, though. I said that the Lebanese gangs had brought this on themselves, and that it had been a long time coming. I do not condone any of it. |
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billybrobby
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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| manlyboy wrote: |
| A segment of the Lebanese community in Sydney have had a day of reckoning coming for a long time now. A lot of the Lebanese are great people, but the young hoodlums who've been terrorizing people on Sydney beaches and burning Australian flags have brought it on themselves. |
why, i'll bet some of your best friends are lebanese. |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| manlyboy wrote: |
| fidel wrote: |
| The problem is, Lebanese gangs weren't targeted by the drunken mob, rather random people who happened to be at the beach, including 15 & 10 year old sisters, born and bred in Australia who were attacked 'just for looking 'ethnic'. The fact that you condone their actions shows your true colors Oi,Oi, Oi! |
You're right. You go too far in assuming that I condone mob violence, and implying I am a racist, though. I said that the Lebanese gangs had brought this on themselves, and that it had been a long time coming. I do not condone any of it. |
But Lebanese gangs members weren't attacked, just whoever happened to be walking past at the time including women and children. Saying "..it had been a long time coming" to my mind says you condone what happened." |
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manlyboy
Joined: 01 Aug 2004
Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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| billybrobby wrote: |
| manlyboy wrote: |
| A segment of the Lebanese community in Sydney have had a day of reckoning coming for a long time now. A lot of the Lebanese are great people, but the young hoodlums who've been terrorizing people on Sydney beaches and burning Australian flags have brought it on themselves. |
why, i'll bet some of your best friends are lebanese. |
Some of my best friends back home are Greeks, Italians and Phillipinos.
I did hang out with Kahlil from the Kebab shop for a while. Seemed like a nice guy, but then started saying things like "Muslims are going to rule this country", and "We come from a proud heritage, and we all know where skips come from".
I wish I did have more Lebanese friends. Unfortunately they're not the most open community in Australia, though. Unlike other ethnic groups, they largely like to keep to themselves. I guess that's the fault of racists like me, huh? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:06 am Post subject: |
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What are skips? |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| I can't think of any justification for randomly attacking people on the street, no matter what anyone else has done. That's just guilt by association and I don't buy it. There is more than enough of that here in Korea. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 1:10 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
What are skips? |
An Australian of Anglo-Celtic descent. Also Norwegian for 'ship'. |
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hypnotist
Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Location: I wish I were a sock
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
What are skips? |
An Australian of Anglo-Celtic descent. Also Norwegian for 'ship'. |
And a rather tasty snack in the UK.
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 3:18 am Post subject: |
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we all know where skips come from".
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Hmmmm...
a) Anglo-Celts
b) Norwegian ships
c) tasty Brit snacks
I don't think I'm any closer to understanding the original quote than I was before I asked. The only way I knew to use 'skip' as a noun was to ask a prof how many classes i could skip before it affected my grade. |
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waggo
Joined: 18 May 2003
Location: pusan baby!
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 3:23 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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we all know where skips come from".
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Hmmmm...
a) Anglo-Celts
b) Norwegian ships
c) tasty Brit snacks
I don't think I'm any closer to understanding the original quote than I was before I asked. The only way I knew to use 'skip' as a noun was to ask a prof how many classes i could skip before it affected my grade. |
I thought they were those great big yellow things you hire and put outside your house to put all the rubble in when youre repaving your patio.
They magically fill up over night with sofas and old bikes. |
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Clutch Cargo
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Location: Sim City 2005
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 3:45 am Post subject: |
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| Umm......Skippy the bush kangaroo |
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