Monday - December 26, 2005

Quiet Aussie Christmas

I missed the story about the riots in Australia in recent weeks and am just now getting caught up. At least the Aussie police are having a fun time down under. It seems things have finally settled down and everyone is getting along just fine, right? I’ll wait and see before I pass judgement. I don’t think Muslims are really trying to fit in anywhere they go in the world. I might believe their cries of racism if it occurred in just one country. Or maybe two. But this is a pattern that has been repeated from Detroit to Paris to Berlin to Madrid to Sydney to ... everywhere. There’s a pattern alright and I don’t particularly like it. I do however like a country where you can celebrate Christmas and go watch bikinis on the beach all in the same day ...

Police Make Merry in Race Riot’s Aftermath
SYDNEY (Reuters)

Australian police patrolled Sydney’s beaches in buggies and on horses decorated with tinsel and reindeer antlers Sunday, as fears of fresh racial violence dissolved into a quiet Christmas Day. On Cronulla beach, where gangs of white surfers and ethnic Lebanese clashed in alcohol-fuelled riots two weeks ago, families spread out across the sand and children ran into the sea—all under the watchful eye of dozens of armed, uniformed police.

Policewomen kept watch from two tinsel-trimmed mounts, horses named Hero and Hollywood, which plodded along the sand wearing fake antlers, while other police officers climbed life-guard towers or scooted along the beach in four-wheeled buggies. “I think everybody has realized that violence is not the answer to all our problems,” said Phil Wardman, sitting with his family on Cronulla’s powdery sand, beneath a postcard-blue sky.

“I wanted to come down today to show I’m not afraid to come here.” Australia is trying hard to mend its image after the riots, which evoked old racist stereotypes and prompted police to throw a security cordon around Sydney’s most popular beaches to head off threats of more violence from white supremacists. Only a week ago, police made dozens of arrests and seized a frightening array of crude weapons, including petrol bombs, knuckle-dusters and wooden clubs studded with nails, from cars stopped and searched at seaside road-blocks.

World publicity of the riots and the police crackdown had sparked fears of a drop in tourism to Australia this summer, but Sydney’s beaches appeared to have returned to near normal Sunday despite the heavy police presence. Hundreds of British and European backpackers and thousands of other sun-worshippers made their annual Christmas Day pilgrimage to Sydney’s most famous summer playground, Bondi Beach, while police patrolled its esplanade in cars and on foot.

- More on this story here ...

Posted by Ronald Reagan's Ghost     on 12/26/2005 at 05:19 PM   
Filed Under: • International • RoPMA •  
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