Optøjer mod indvandrer-kriminalitet i Australien

Hvis vi skulle tage venstrefløjens sædvanlige briller på, som brugt når ballademagerne er arabere fra Palæstina, så ville historien være bragt som "Australske aktivister kom søndag hen over middag i kamp med arabiske bosættere nær Sydney." Da det ikke er arabere fra Palæstina, vi taler om, bliver historien istedet som følger (kilde: CNN):

Ethnic tensions erupted Sunday into running battles between police and a mob of thousands of youths, many chanting racial slurs, at a beachside suburb in southern Sydney.

At least three people were arrested and several injured in alcohol-fueled fights. Television images showed police protecting an ambulance being pelted with beer bottles and a group of young women attacking another woman.

Other youths stamped on police vehicles and police officers fought back with batons and pepper spray.

The behavior, "is nothing short of disgusting and disgraceful," said Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin. It's certainly not the Australian way."

"What has been occurring on some fronts is that people of Middle Eastern backgrounds that have been seen in the Cronulla area, a swarm of the crowd has approached these people with vile abuse, in the most un-Australian way," Goodwin said. "We have a number of reports of persons that have been assaulted."

A police spokesman commenting on usual condition of anonymity said three men, aged 16, 29 and 34 were arrested and were being questioned after fights erupted among some 5,000 people who converged on Cronulla beach in southern Sydney.

Many youths were carrying beer bottles, waving Australian flags and chanting racist slogans following reports that youths of Lebanese descent were responsible for last week's attack on two of the beach's life guards.

Earlier this week police boosted the number of officers patrolling the beach after mobile phone text messages began circulating calling for retaliation for the attacks.

Henrik