Oz police denies racial motive behind attack on Indians

Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, Jun 9 (PTI) Australian Police Tuesday
denied racial motive behind a string of violent attacks on
Indian students recently in Sydney's west, even as the
community members organised an angry protest rally in Harris
Park of the city Monday night.

Around 200 Indian students, some of them armed with
baseball bats and hockey sticks, gathered at the main street
of Harris Park to protest against the recent racial violence,
according to Skynews TV channel.

The demonstration started last night after a 20-year-
old Indian student was allegedly assaulted by a group of men
of Middle Eastern appearance, police said.

According to police officer Robert Redfern, the
Parramatta local area commander, the attacks were
"opportunistic" and not racially motivated.

"Certainly it would appear to us that they are
opportunistic and this is an area of Harris Park where there
is a very large Indian community," he said.

"They are young people, often students, often
working... and they are therefore at risk opportunistically of
being assaulted in the early hours of the morning or very late
at night," Redfern said.

Redfern said police worked closely with the Indian
community and had reduced the area's crime rate.

"There is a youth student safety subcommittee that's
working with the Indian Consulate, we're working with that
group and we'll continue to do so," he said.

"Our ethnic community liaison officers have certainly
been (giving) safety advice to these people," Redfern said.

According to TV report, protesters demanded immediate
action against the perpetrators of such violence and also to
organise a meet between students, police and State
authorities.

The report said the community members felt that there
was a fear that if the issue was not addressed immediately
there could be race riots.

One of the protesters told radio channel here that the
attacks were becoming more frequent and police are not doing
enough to stop them.

"I never come back home at night... If I finish my
work, I stay there. I know if I come back, someone (will)
smash me, someone (will) take my money. I know. I'm not safe
here," Ajay Kumar, a student, told radio channel.

A spokesman for the NSW Lebanese Community Council,
Elie Nassif, said any individuals making trouble should be
dealt with by police as a criminal matter.

However, Nassif said there has been tension in the
local area between a small section of the Lebanese and Indian
communities which needs to be addressed.

"Whether we like it or not it is happening, but as
community leaders we should work together to wipe all this
(out)," Nassif said. PTI NC
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