Thursday, June 11, 2009 CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned against vigilante action and called for calm on Wednesday after ethnic Indians protested in Sydney and allegedly attacked three men in retaliation for what they say is racially motivated violence.Recent attacks on Indians, including the stabbing of a student in Melbourne last month, have sparked student-led rallies in Sydney and Melbourne and top-level talks with India over concerns that some of the 90 000 Indian students in Australia are being targeted.Police say some violence is racially motivated, but much of it is ordinary crime. Some Indian students are vulnerable because they travel alone late at night to part-time jobs or from university carrying valuables such as laptop computers, police say."I fully support hard-line measures in response to any act of violence toward any student anywhere - Indian or otherwise," Rudd told media in Melbourne."We also need to render as completely unacceptable people taking the law into their own hands," he added.Rudd noted that 20 Australians had been murdered or assaulted in India in the past decade."That is not the result of Australians being targeted in India; it's just a fact of violence in the cities around the world," Rudd said. "I do think we need some balance in this debate."In Sydney, about 70 students chanting "We want justice!" took to the streets on Tuesday night to protest recent attacks, including the alleged assault of two Indian men by a group of ethnic Lebanese on Monday. Three Lebanese men were attacked Monday night, apparently in retribution.Police arrested two men during the protest. One was charged with carrying a weapon.One protester, Genesh Loke, said he was beaten by an ethnic Lebanese gang on Monday and had his glasses broken. He said police take too long to respond to such crimes."If they don't take these matters seriously, then it will keep happening again and again," Loke told media.Local police chief Superintendent Robert Redfern said victims need to make formal complaints."Give us statements, give us evidence so that we can make appropriate arrests," Redfern told reporters.
Thursday, June 11, 2009 CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned against vigilante action and called for calm on Wednesday after ethnic Indians protested in Sydney and allegedly attacked three men in retaliation for what they say is racially motivated violence.Recent attacks on Indians, including the stabbing of a student in Melbourne last month, have sparked student-led rallies in Sydney and Melbourne and top-level talks with India over concerns that some of the 90 000 Indian students in Australia are being targeted.Police say some violence is racially motivated, but much of it is ordinary crime. Some Indian students are vulnerable because they travel alone late at night to part-time jobs or from university carrying valuables such as laptop computers, police say."I fully support hard-line measures in response to any act of violence toward any student anywhere - Indian or otherwise," Rudd told media in Melbourne."We also need to render as completely unacceptable people taking the law into their own hands," he added.Rudd noted that 20 Australians had been murdered or assaulted in India in the past decade."That is not the result of Australians being targeted in India; it's just a fact of violence in the cities around the world," Rudd said. "I do think we need some balance in this debate."In Sydney, about 70 students chanting "We want justice!" took to the streets on Tuesday night to protest recent attacks, including the alleged assault of two Indian men by a group of ethnic Lebanese on Monday. Three Lebanese men were attacked Monday night, apparently in retribution.Police arrested two men during the protest. One was charged with carrying a weapon.One protester, Genesh Loke, said he was beaten by an ethnic Lebanese gang on Monday and had his glasses broken. He said police take too long to respond to such crimes."If they don't take these matters seriously, then it will keep happening again and again," Loke told media.Local police chief Superintendent Robert Redfern said victims need to make formal complaints."Give us statements, give us evidence so that we can make appropriate arrests," Redfern told reporters.
Comments