Posted on 12/14/2005 10:45:43 AM PST by Dundee
Now churches are targeted
FOUR churches in Sydney's southwest have been attacked in 24 hours as the city's riots spread from race to religion.
A community hall linked to a Uniting church was burned to the ground early yesterday, carol-singers were spat on and church buildings peppered with gunfire.
In response, members of the Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities have called for a curfew for all Lebanese youths over the weekend.
Police believe the attack on the hall, in the suburb of Auburn, was intended to destroy the Uniting church next door, while nearby StThomas's Anglican Church, which has a primarily Chinese congregation, had all its front windows smashed. Three of the attacks were on churches within minutes of each other. The night before, Molotov cocktails were used in an attack on an Anglican church in Macquarie Fields in the city's far southwest.
Arab Christians have suggested the attacks on churches may have been meant as a violent attempt to "shame" the city's Lebanese Christian community into supporting Lebanese Muslims in the race-hate war, which began as a battle against young white males over use of suburban beaches.
Community leaders said Lebanese youths should not venture out after 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and should stay home all day on Sunday.
"Those who violate the curfew will be doing so in defiance of their faith, of the law and their community leaders. We are all united in opposing violence," Lebanese Muslim Association leader Ahmad Kamaledine said.
Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen welcomed the call for a curfew. "We must remember that it is first of all in the home that we learn to respect and care for others," he said.
"So I trust that all parents will join these community leaders in encouraging their own young people to exhibit mature and thoughtful respect for other people at all times."
Despite the call for a curfew, the state Government, police, community and religious leaders were bracing for a violent clash between opposing ethnic groups over the weekend.
The church attacks prompted NSW Premier Morris Iemma to yesterday assign extra police to monitor places of worship.
Mr Iemma said police would pay special attention to churches, schools and church halls. "We have to be on guard for this, and these hooligans and criminals will not destroy the fabric of our society," he said.
A heavy police presence was again ordered last night as the suburb of Cronulla - the scene of race-related violence on Sunday - began a second night of lock-down and police roadblocks.
During a tour of the command post set up in the Sydney Police Centre to co-ordinate the crisis, Deputy Commissioner Andrew Scipione told Mr Iemma the situation was being treated as if it were a terror attack.
"We are running the same command and control centre as we would for a terrorist situation," Mr Scipione said.
Elsewhere in Sydney, two men were attacked in separate incidents by men wielding bats and golf clubs and asking their victims if they were Australian.
Steve Stanton, a spokesman for the Maronite Catholic Church in Australia, said he thought the shooting outside a carol service in South Auburn on Monday night was the responsibility of a "very small minority" of fanatics within the wider Muslim community.
"There is also a view that it will have been done with a view to shaming the Lebanese for not standing united," he said.
Amjad Mehboob, head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said he believed the violence had been committed by an extremist fringe of the Muslim community. "I wish we knew who they were. I wish we could engage with them so we can find out what their beliefs are, so we can deal with them," he said.
"This is something that started out as a minor scuffle between some youths and a couple of life-savers that has suddenly become an issue of racism and religion. Buildings can be rebuilt, but the damage this is doing to our community is extremely deep."
Reverend Glenys Biddle, of the Uniting church in Auburn, said the destroyed hall had been a important part of the local Tongan community. "For them, they have lost not only a physical building but a sense of fellowship," she said. "A lot of memories have also been lost for Anglos, Tongans and people of all sorts of cultures."
Shafiq Khan, the principal of the al-Faisal College next door, said Christians and Muslims had always worked amicably, and the fire - coupled with the fear it may promote - was a loss for both religions. "This is a crime against peace, the community and the country; a crime against harmony and against our children, who used the hall," he said.
Television and sporting celebrities and leaders from Sutherland Shire and the Islamic community will hold a meeting this morning, brokered by local MP Bruce Baird, to try to settle their differences.
It ticks me off how the press keeps excusing the initial Islamofascist attacks on lifeguards as a "response to prejudice from 9/11." Then, when the non-Islamofascist population fights back, it's suddenly "racist." What the hell?
When the neo nazis join in the fray, it tends to discredit the activities of the majority law abiding dissenters.
By having a loose alliance with neo nazis, there is bound to be charges of racism since the neos are the most outspoken of racist groups.
Of course the spinners will make things look like the whole problem is a bunch of drunken neo nazis, rather than blame the arrogant, in your face islam is the only religion, islamofacists who do no wrong. Remember.they represent the religion of peace and understanding. SPIT!
Muslims are the leading traffikers in illegal arms and military hardware. FYI
Indeed it was. The one report of a woman being molested as an "Aussie slut" by the rampaging Muslims was of a Christian woman of Lebanese ancestry.
It's not a racial conflict, or an ethnic conflict. The Lebanese Christians are not participants. It's a small group of Muslims vs. everybody else.
The meanest, baddest most brutal rugby team I ever saw were all Samoans. They never lost. Opposing teams would start bleeding days in advance of the match in anticipation of the thrashing they were about to receive......
>> (as in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo)<<
Skippy!!!!
I love Skippy!
One of my best friends is in Granville. Is that anywhere near this area??
I have had such an admiration for the Aussies for so long though, I think it good and well for Americans to catch their back when they are going through some hard times, to help them fight off the radical idiots, be they Muslim or Neo Nazis. Since they have been staunch allies, any other position is cowardly.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/police-guard-churches-as-tension-rises/2005/12/14/1134500916773.html
Police guard churches as tension rises
Email Print Normal font Large font By Samantha Baden
December 15, 2005
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AdvertisementPOLICE will pay "special attention" to religious venues after a spate of attacks on places of worship linked to race-fuelled violence.
Religious leaders called for unity and calm as text messages and emails, similar to those which promoted Sydney's violence earlier this week, spread to other states.
The NSW parliament will convene today for an emergency session to pass new police laws allowing authorities to lock down trouble spots, seize cars and turn off alcohol.
Police in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia said copycat text messages and emails calling for unrest had been circulating. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said he believed there would not be any support for racial unrest on the Gold Coast, where text messages have called for people to start "cracking skulls".
In Sydney, hundreds of police continued to patrol flashpoint suburbs in the city's south and west last night following violence sparked by an attack on surf lifesavers and Sunday's subsequent race riot at Cronulla.
The riots were followed by two nights of retaliatory "smash-and-bash" attacks in Maroubra, Cronulla and Brighton-le-Sands.
A leaked document has indicated that police were not equipped to respond to Monday evening's violence in Cronulla, in which people were assaulted and cars, shopfronts and windows were smashed.
The Seven Network said it had obtained a police incident report instructing officers to stay away from one of the areas - believed to be Punchbowl Park in Sydney's west - on Monday night.
The park is believed to have been the meeting place for scores of men who formed a vehicle convoy which drove to Cronulla unimpeded by police.
The network claimed the report showed some of those in the crowd were suspected of being Middle Eastern criminals who had been involved in malicious damage and civil disobedience offences throughout the Sutherland Shire.
The report is believed to have said "a direction was given to police about midnight not to enter the area and antagonise these persons".
In separate incidents, a Uniting Church hall in Auburn was burned to the ground on Tuesday night, while the nearby St Thomas' Anglican Church had windows smashed at about the same time.
A spokesman for the NSW Uniting Church, Jim Mein, said yesterday members of the mainly Tongan congregation at the Harold Wood Auburn Uniting Church were bewildered by the attack. Police are treating the blaze as suspicious and Mr Iemma has said "it may be" linked to the recent race-fuelled violence in Sydney.
Mr Iemma said today he was not aware of any past tensions related to the church or its activities in the Auburn area. But he said the incident showed the need to monitor places of worship during the current unrest.
"Special attention will be paid to places of worship, our churches and our schools," Mr Iemma said.
"Obviously we have to be on guard for this, and these hooligans and criminals will not destroy the fabric of our society," he said.
Amjad Ali Mehboob of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said worshippers at Omar Mosque in Auburn would hold a solidarity meeting at the Uniting Church after Friday prayers.
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, condemned the violence, saying "faith leaders will have much to do in their communities to assist".
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17570541-2,00.html
Church attacks spark fears
From: By Nick Leys and Dan Box
December 15, 2005
Suspicious ... fire engulfs a suburban Sydney church yesterday. FOUR churches in Sydney's southwest have been attacked in 24-hours as the city's volatile riots spread from race to religion.
A community hall linked to a Uniting Church was burned to the ground early yesterday, carol singers were spat on and church buildings peppered with gunfire.
In response, members of the Arab Christian and Arab Muslim communities have called for a curfew for all Lebanese youths over the weekend.
Police believe the attack on the hall, in the suburb of Auburn, was intended to destroy the Uniting Church adjacent, while nearby St Thomas's Anglican Church, which has a primarily Chinese congregation, had all its front windows smashed. Three of the attacks were on churches within minutes of each other.
The night before, Molotov cocktails were used in an attack on an Anglican Church in Macquarie Fields in the city's far southwest.
Arab Christians have suggested the attacks on churches may have been meant as a violent attempt to "shame" the city's Lebanese Christian community into supporting Lebanese Muslims in the race-hate war, which began as a battle against young white males over use of suburban beaches.
Is the rioting limited to the southern suburbs of Sydney? In looking at a map I recognize Punch Bowl and Maroubra from the stories I've read. I ask because my sister is residing in Curl Curl.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
marking 4 future read.
I am not sure, not being all that familiar with the places myself.
Perhaps some of the FReepers of Oz could comment on this.
Satan vs Christ
Score tied, 45 seconds left of the 4th Quarter.
2nd and 10, on the 50 yard line; Satan has the ball...
But the outcome is not in doubt, despite all the dirty tricks and outright cheating on the part of the Opposing Team.
Look for a game winning intercept and end zone run by Our Side. After the goal, it won't be the final point that gets kicked...
...and it ain't to the locker rooms that the losing team will head.
Dundee,kill em all and let allah sort them out.
"OH FRAPTUOUS DAY! Callou...Callay!"
Rots of ruck there mohamhead with that jihadi thang you are trying to run past the Aussies..you just bit off more than you can chew
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