Australia: Racial tension erupted into violence on a Sydney beach yesterday when around 5,000 people, some shouting racist slogans, attacked youths of a Middle Eastern background, saying they were defending their stretch of beach.
Thousands of local surfers and beachgoers gathered at Cronulla Beach after two young lifesavers were attacked by a group of young men from Sydney's western suburbs.
Drunken youths chased and attacked Australians of Middle Eastern appearance at the beach in Sydney's south, sending some running into shops and hotels for safety, as riot police and dog squads tried to stop the violence.
By last night, violence had spread to a second beach, Maroubra, where men armed with baseball bats smashed cars.
Police said a man was stabbed in the back in south Sydney in what media reports said appeared to be further racial violence.
As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore, one man on the back of a truck shouted: "No more Lebs [ Lebanese]" - a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts.
"This is Australia, if they don't like it they can go home," a local resident told reporters as he watched the violence.
Police arrested 12 people for offensive behaviour and assault and blocked roads into Cronulla Beach, which was littered with broken beer bottles.
"The behaviour that has been seen down here at Cronulla today is nothing short of disgusting and disgraceful.
"t is certainly not the Australian way," said police assistant commissioner Mark Goodwin. He said some of those attacked were of Arab background but had been born in Australia.
Cronulla resident Tertia Harry wept as she watched the violence. "I would expect scenes like this in South Africa but not here," she told reporters. "In 2005, there should not be this disgusting display of racism."
Cronulla Beach was the scene of an attack on two lifeguards last week and a brawl later in the week in which youths turned on a media crew.
Following the attacks on the volunteer lifesavers, a mobile telephone text campaign started, calling on Cronulla locals to rally yesterday to protect their beach.
In response, a text campaign urged youths from western Sydney to be at Cronulla yesterday to protect their friends.
All week police and politicians have been calling for calm.
Sydney's Islamic community blamed the violence at Cronulla Beach on "racist and irresponsible" sections of the media which turned a youth issue into an issue of ethnicity.
"Innocent people have been bashed as a result of this simmering racial hatred," said Kaysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia.- (Reuters)