CATHOLIC Archbishop George Pell has warned gangs of Middle Eastern descent not to target Christmas celebrations, after families were abused and gunshots fired into cars at a primary school's carols night in western Sydney on Monday.
Cardinal Pell said the attack in the multicultural suburb of Auburn, where Lebanese Muslims are believed to have turned on Lebanese Christians, was "apparently motivated by religious intolerance". He said: "I am deeply concerned about the targeting of Christmas celebrations at schools for students as young as five years old.
"The attack was apparently motivated by religious intolerance. This has no place in Australia today."
Police confirmed last night that they had been called to the St Joseph the Worker Primary School on Monday evening at about 9.30pm after a priest and parents heard gunshots outside the school, predominantly used by Lebanese Catholics.
Earlier in the evening, about 400 parents and children were singing carols when a group of youths of Middle Eastern appearance verbally abused them.
Neither police nor school staff could find any damage, but yesterday two school staff members discovered bullet holes in their cars, with spent cartridges found nearby.
"The cars have been seized along with a number of cartridges found at the scene and these will be forensically examined," a police spokeswoman said last night.
After two days of clashes between the Lebanese and Anglo communities in hotspots along Sydney's beaches, this was the first case of an attack on religious - rather than ethnic - grounds.
A church in Macquarie Fields, also in Sydney's west, was damaged in the early hours of yesterday morning, suffering minor fire damage after what police believe was an incendiary device was thrown through the front door. Cardinal Pell said the actions of the gang towards the Auburn school community - which was "predominantly Lebanese, with Filipinos, Chinese and Anglo families also represented" - was "as unacceptable as the violence perpetrated by Anglo elements on Sunday at Cronulla".
The incident forced the cancellation of a carols service at the Holy Spirit Primary School in Lakemba last night.
Cardinal Pell asked the Government to ensure the safety of those wishing to attend Christmas services. (from theaustralian)----
TENSIONS between young white gangs and youths of mainly Middle Eastern origin erupted on one of Australia’s most popular beaches yesterday in what police condemned as a racially motivated rally driven by a mob mentality.
Thousands of people, many chanting racial slurs, were engaged in running battles on Cronulla Beach in Sydney’s southern suburbs.
At least 13 people were hurt, including five police, and 12 were arrested during the clashes, which followed a week of mounting anger over an attack on two lifeguards who were beaten up by a gang of Lebanese youths.
Furious locals, many wielding empty beer bottles and waving Australian flags, shouted anti-Middle Eastern slogans as they marched across the sand, on which was written “100 per cent Aussie pride”.
One white teenager had the words “We grew up here, you flew here” painted across his back. 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.
Up to 150 police officers were drafted in to cope with the 5,000-strong crowd, many of whom roamed the beach and side streets in vigilante fashion.
Two girls of Middle Eastern appearance were pushed to the ground and pelted with bottles as police tried to rescue them.
By mid-afternoon word spread that a Lebanese gang was arriving at the nearby railway station. Some members of the mob jumped on a train where they looked for anybody of vaguely Middle Eastern appearance. They found two men whom they began to beat before police intervened with batons and formed a human chain around the station.
In a separate incident, two paramedics were injured as they tried to rescue a group of Lebanese youths who had sought sanctuary in the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving club.
The mob smashed windows and kicked at doors, while others stomped on police vehicles and parked cars. Officers fought back with pepper spray and batons, bringing a semblance of calm to the area by late afternoon.
Last night, violence flared in at least six Sydney suburbs in retaliation for the Cronulla clashes. In nearby Brighton-le-Sands, an Australian flag was reported to have been taken off a building and burnt.
The violent clashes followed weeks of rising racial tension in the beachside suburb, which is popular with thousands of Middle Eastern families from Sydney’s mainly ethnic outer areas at the weekend. Locals have accused some of them, particularly visiting Lebanese youths, of being disrespectful to white women and other beachgoers.
Following the attacks on the volunteer lifeguards, a mobile telephone text campaign started, backed up by frenzied discussions on weblogs, calling on Cronulla locals to rally to protect their beach.
In response, a text campaign urged youths from western Sydney to be at Cronulla on Sunday to protect their friends. All week police and politicians had been calling for calm. (from The Times)
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It's hard to know what to say here. I think abusing innocent people whatever their race is wrong, obviously. Another article on this beach situation said the Lebanese youths were calling white women "whores" because of how they were dressed (bathing suits, I assume) and then roughing up their male companions when they protested. How do we get people to "live and let live?" What do we do about people who are not willing to do that? Could this happen here in the US?
---Katie
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