On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:57:37 -0500, Siegfriedson
IMHO it is nothing to do with multiculturalism but is a failure of policing much more symptomatic of a general problem that is just as valid for the UK and other European nations.
I now many muslims, non-whites, and others for whom English is not a mother tongue. In every case they are hard working, honest, decent people. I've also met many white people that I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them. People are people, and, while I dislike many islamic countries and detest Sharia law, I'd be as uncomfortable with a white supremicist or any zealot.
I however think this is a complete distraction to the real issue. The problem to my mind is that group of thugs, who happen to be of lebanese muslim extraction, have been making a public nuisance (or worse) of themselves over a period of years. Of particular note, they've been making obscene comments to women on beaches and following young girls, driving alongside them at night, being very abusive and scaring the living daylights out of them. There have been some (a very small number) gang rapes. The other week a group of these thugs topped it by beating up some lifesavers who asked them to lay off. This kicked off a demonstration which turned into a riot.
The fact is this is a failure to police. If the police had dealt with the scumbags when they began to be a problem this would never have blown up. Why they didn't is no doubt complex and may well involve an element of PC. However to my mind it is probably nothing to do with this and comes down to the average incident not being "serious" enough to warrant a response. Fact is that nowadays police don't see their job as deterence but as an emergency service responding swiftly to serious crimes that have already happened (and often completely ignoring "low grade" crimes such as vandalism, intimidation, loutishness etc. completely).
Don't get me wrong. The protests have been hijacked by a bunch of louts and racists and the should and must be dealt with extremely severely. But fact is so should have the gangs of scum that have made life a misery in Cronulla prior to this and if they had this might never have happened.
WP.
