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Aussie Police to Get Massive Powers to Stop Riots
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A rioter is taken away by police at south Sydney's Cronulla beach.
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SYDNEY,
December 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An
emergency session of New South Wales parliament will give Sydney
police tough new powers to crack down on racial and mob violence as
the country’s reputation for racial tolerance became under threat, a
leading Australian newspaper reported Tuesday, December 13.
An
emergency session of parliament Thursday, December 15, will give
police powers not seen since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, The Sydney
Morning Herald reported.
Under
the laws, police will be able to lock down parts of Sydney and search
and confiscate vehicles.
The
new laws will further increase the penalty for riot by five years to
15 years in jail and double the penalty for affray to 10 years in
jail.
"We're
dealing with an unprecedented situation the likes we haven't seen in
Australia before, with this type of racial tension and these types of
series of smash and bash attacks across multiple fronts," NSW
Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin said Tuesday.
A
massive force of 450 highly-mobile police will also patrol Sydney
streets tonight to try to prevent a third successive night of violence
following Sunday's Cronulla race riot.
The
rampage began when more than 5,000 people gathered at Sydney’s
Cronulla beach Sunday, December 11, after e-mail and mobile phone
messages called on local residents to beat-up "Lebs and
wogs" -- racial slurs for people of Lebanese and Middle Eastern
origin.
Western
Australian police in Perth are further investigating an attack by a
group of young men against a family of Middle Eastern background.
Striking
Back
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Anti-Arabs protesters clash with police. (Reuters)
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Sydney's
youths of Middle East backgrounds struck back Monday, smashing cars,
assaulting people and fighting police in several different suburbs,
police said Tuesday.
On
Monday night, hundreds of Muslims were involved in an angry standoff
with police outside a Sydney mosque in the western suburbs.
Up
to 25 cars with youths then drove to Cronulla and used baseball bats
to damage cars and smash windows, according to Reuters.
Residents
said around 30 to 40 cars full of young men armed with baseball bats
and crowbars drove through the suburb, smashing shop windows and
parked cars.
In
the mainly Muslim suburb of Lakemba, about 500 young people blocked
roads near the local mosque after evening prayers, believing an attack
was imminent. They later dispersed, some hurling rocks at police.
Australian
media reported that mobile telephone text messages from Australians of
Anglo-Saxon and Middle East backgrounds were both calling for revenge
attacks to continue.
Muslim
activist Fadi Abdul Rahman said further trouble could be brewing as
Muslim youths were angry, believing police were not treating them
fairly.
"They
feel they have been dealt with by the authorities differently to the
way Anglos have been dealt with," he told Reuters.
"They
feel injustice and they feel angry about it."
Observers
laid the blame squarely at the Australian government for repeatedly
voicing warnings of possible attacks by Muslims on Australian soil and
the recent issuance of anti-terror laws believed to be targeting
immigrants from the Arab and Muslim countries.
“Embedded
Racism”
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“It really concerns me that Australians - if you scratch them you discover a racist,” said Quick.
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Meanwhile,
a federal Labor MP has contradicted his party leader Kim Beazley and
Prime Minister John Howard by blaming racism for the violence.
Federal
Tasmanian MP Harry Quick says racism is “embedded” in Australian
culture and federal politicians should not ignore it, Australia’s
ABC news network reported.
Opposition
Leader Kim Beazley has said the Sydney clashes are "simply
criminal behavior" and Howard says he does not accept there is
underlying racism in Australia.
But
Quick says political leaders should not gloss over the issue.
"I
think leaders of all political parties who have put their opinions on
the public record need to look seriously at the underlying
issues," he said.
"Because
in Sydney especially, I am in Melbourne today and I'd like to think
that Melbourne has a totally different attitude but in Sydney there is
overt racism.
"It
really concerns me that Australians - if you scratch them you discover
a racist and this is one of the sad things about Australia, despite us
espousing multiculturalism, deep down we have this fear of people who
are different from us," he said.
Opposition
treasury spokesman Wayne Swan says he disagrees with Quick.
Swan
says it is a law and order issue and criminals are criminals
regardless of their background.
"It
doesn't matter what people like Harry Quick or anyone else thinks
about where these people come from ... they must feel the full force
of the law," Swan said.
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