XPost: rec.sport.cricket, soc.culture.scottish, soc.culture.irish   
   From: micheil@shaw.ca   
      
   On 12 Oct 2006 10:19:36 -0700, "Don"  wrote:   
      
   >The Aussies cannot be racists. Most of them have Scot/Irish/Welsh(in   
   >short celtic) ancestry.   
   >They can be dirty(crude and agressive) in their approach but not racist   
   >like the English.   
      
   Wake up!   
      
   This from the BBC today:   
      
   Sydney police begin beach patrols   
      
   Police fear the summer heat could reignite racial tensions   
      
   Police in Australia have begun to patrol beaches in the city of Sydney   
   in order to prevent a repeat of last year's serious racial clashes.   
   Around 80 officers will police popular beaches throughout the summer   
   as part of "Operation Beachsafe".   
      
   The patrols will send a tough message to potential troublemakers, New   
   South Wales Police Minister Carl Scully said.   
      
   Severe clashes took place in December 2005, with mobs of youths   
   clashing on and around the city's beaches.   
      
   Mr Scully said that police would patrol Cronulla, Maroubra and   
   Brighton-le-Sands beaches.   
      
   "The message to anyone intent on causing trouble or upheaval is quite   
   simple - the police will be cracking down hard on you," he said.   
      
   The new patrols will be backed up by canine units, a helicopter and an   
   offshore patrol boat. Traffic officers will also scan car number   
   plates for known troublemakers.   
      
   Ethnic tensions   
      
   More than 1,500 police had to be deployed in Sydney last year to end   
   the fighting.   
      
   The clashes began when mobs of white youths attacked people of Arabic   
   and Mediterranean appearance on Cronulla Beach, apparently in revenge   
   for an attack on two lifeguards.   
      
   The violence escalated, with hundreds of rioters urged to congregate   
   in the area by text messages, and led to two nights of fighting and   
   vandalism.   
      
   The New South Wales state parliament passed emergency measures giving   
   police new powers as they fought to end the unrest.   
      
   Police fear that a hot summer could spark a return of the violence.   
      
   On Friday, a group of people, reportedly Asian, were attacked by   
   around 20 men at Maroubra beach as they unpacked for a barbeque.   
      
   But the state police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, played down the   
   suggestion that ethnic tensions were escalating.   
      
      
      
      
   The Highlander   
      
   Faodaidh nach ionann na beachdan anns   
   an post seo agus beachdan a' Ghàidheil.   
   The views expressed in this post are   
   not necessarily those of The Highlander.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)