2005 Cronulla riots: Difference between revisions

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The '''2005 Sydney race riots''' began with a protest, which took place near the beachfront at [[Cronulla, New South Wales|Cronulla]], a southern coastal suburb of [[Sydney]], [[Australia|Australia's]] largest city. On [[Sunday]], [[December 11]], [[2005]], approximately 5000 people had gathered in an ad-hoc protest to "reclaim the beach" from recently-reported incidents of assaults and intimidatory behaviour by non-locals, most of whom were identified in the earlier media reports as [[Lebanese]] [[Muslim]] youths from the western suburbs of Sydney. The crowd had assembled following a widely-reported series of earlier confrontations, and an assault on three volunteer lifesavers ([[Lifeguards]]) which had taken place the previous weekend. In the week leading up to the major incident of the 11th, these confrontations and the subsequent circulation of anonymous calls (spread via [[short message service|SMS text messaging]] and other means) to gather at the beach were the subject of much publicity and media commentary.

The crowd initially assembled without incident, but violence broke out after a large segment of the mostly white crowd chased a man of [[Middle East]]ern appearance into a [[public house|hotel]]. The ensuing [[melee]] soon became widespread; in the course of it a number of police, ambulance officers and individual members of the public perceived to be Lebanese were assaulted.

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Thirteen people were injured throughout the day. Some were prevented from further injury by the assistance of people within the crowd, disgusted by the behaviour of the assaulters.

A number of the demonstrators wore clothing bearing slogans such as "We Grew Here, You Flew Here", "[[Wog]] Free Zone", "Aussie Pride", "Fuck Allahu - save 'Nulla", and "[[Ethnic Cleansing]] Unit". Chants of "[[Leb]]s out", "Lebs go home" and other expressions were continuously shouted out by many of the demonstrators, including some families with young children. A banner saying "LOCALS ONLY" with a symbol for [[anarchism]] in place of the "A" was displayed (Daily Telegraph, [[December 12]]).

Representatives from three far-right organisations were also identified, handing out pamphlets: "[[Australia First|Australia First Party]]", "[[Patriotic Youth League]]" (PYL) and the Newcastle-based [[Blood and Honour]]. PYL describes itself as a "radical nationalist" group with links to the German-based skinhead group [[Volksfront]], [[British National Party]] and the [[New Zealand National Front]]. None of these groups claimed a role in organising the protest.