Indian students rally over Sydney attack

By Di Bain for AM

AM | abc.net.au/am

About 500 young men formed a mob in a Western Sydney park last night in a spontaneous protest against the racial violence targeted at Indian students.

The protesters claim they came out onto the streets after two young Indian students were harassed earlier in the night.

Before long, they were confronted by 30 police officers and dogs.

The protesters say the attacks are becoming more frequent and police are not doing enough to stop them.

Student Sumit Purdani tells his version of events.

"Some other ... group was here and there were around six, five or six cars and they attacked a couple of people who were walking from the station," he said.

"Then they got assaulted. Some other guys got assaulted as well in this particular thing.

Jimit Shah, 26, says he was involved in the fight.

"I just came out the station and I [was] just near to my house, and I just see some of the Indians behind me, and suddenly some Lebanese come over there, and just they hit the Indian people, and they are my brothers," he said.

Another student, Ajay Kumar, says he joined the protest because he too has been the victim of random assaults.

He says the police are not doing enough to help.

"I never come back home at night time," he said.

"If I finish my work, I stay there. Why? Because I know if I come back, someone [will] smash me, someone [will] take my money. I know. Because I'm not safe here. Because Australian police are s***, fully ***t."

Anger in the Indian community began after four students were attacked with a screwdriver at a party in Melbourne.

More stories of Indian attacks have emerged since then.

Protests like this one are sparking diplomatic concerns between Australia and India.

Ajay Kumar says his mum has been calling from India, worried about his safety in Australia.

"They say, 'are you all right? You all right? How is it in Australia now? How is it in Sydney now?'," he said.

"The Australian police are not able. They have to migrate the Indian police all here."

In the early hours of the morning the mob in Parramatta dispersed but many of the students say this will not be the last we will hear from them.

Assault: Indians rally in Sydney
Georgina Robinson
June 9, 2009 - 7:22AM

Police say they will investigate complaints of racially motivated attacks on sections of the Indian community following an angry protest in Sydney's west last night.

About 150 young men gathered in the main street of Harris Park to protest a spate of recent assaults in the area targeting Indian students and migrants.

Police said the demonstration followed reports that an Indian man aged in his 20s was assaulted by a group of men of Middle Eastern appearance on Wigram Street just before 9pm.

The man involved received minor injuries and did not wish to pursue the matter.

But police were called back to the area a short time later after a number of Indian men allegedly bashed three men of Middle Eastern appearance in nearby Marion Street.

Paramedics treated those men for cuts and bruises, police said.

Meantime, the crowd on Wigram Street - a bustling strip of restaurants and food stores - had swelled to about 150 people, all chanting and protesting about a recent flare up of violence against the Indian community.

Late last month, 25-year-old Indian man Rajesh Kumar suffered burns to a third of his body after a petrol bomb was thrown through his bedroom window just a couple of blocks from where last night's protest occurred.

The hospitality graduate's house mates said then they had been robbed numerous times on their way home from work and grocery shopping.

The men's neighbours, many of whom were young migrant families, also told smh.com.au they felt unsafe in the area.

The police dog squad was called in to respond to last night's gathering, as well as officers from Holroyd and Rosehill local area commands.

Police said a smaller group of about 70 men then made their way to Parramatta police station to complain about recent treatment of the Indian community.

They were moved on without incident, police said. Officers were investigating the community's concerns.

Assault: Indians rally in Sydney
Georgina Robinson
June 9, 2009 - 10:50AM

Police have denied a string of violent attacks on Indian men in Sydney's west recently were racially motivated.

Up to 200 men of Indian background, some of them armed with baseball bats and hockey sticks, last night rallied in the main street of Harris Park, protesting what they say is a pattern of violence against students and migrants.

Police said the demonstration started after reports an Indian man aged in his 20s was assaulted by a group of men of Middle Eastern appearance on Wigram Street just before 9pm.

The assault led to a retaliatory attack on three Lebanese men in nearby Marion Street and comes less than a month after a petrol bomb was hurled through the bedroom window of a 25-year-old Indian hospitality graduate just a couple of blocks away in Harris Street.

Superintendent Robert Redfern, the Parramatta local area commander, told ABC radio he believed 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," Superintendent Redfern said.

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

Last night's alleged assaults sparked an angry protest along the strip of restaurants and food markets.

Police said at up to 200 men were gathered at the protest's peak, while up to 70 of those went on to Parramatta police station to demand action.

Superintendent 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."

Indian-born residents make up the second largest population group in Harris Park, according to 2006 Census data.

Many young migrant families told smh.com.au last month they regularly saw or heard about robberies in the area.

Housemates of the petrol bomb victim, Rajesh Kumar, said they had been robbed numerous times on their way home from work and grocery shopping.

The unrest in Harris Park also follows a violent home invasion in nearby Westmead, which saw two Sinhalese men stabbed and splashed with acid last month.

Superintendent Redfern said he could not comment on investgations into that incident because it was being handled by a different police command.

Police deny Indian attacks racist

Police have played down reports of racial violence in western Sydney, where up to 200 Indian nationals rallied in response to attacks on two students.

Two men in their 20s were assaulted in separate incidents about 9pm in Harris Park last night. The offenders were described as Middle Eastern in appearance.

The victims suffered minor injuries and did not press charges, but the incident sparked the protest and culminated in three men of being assaulted.

The Superintendent of the Parramatta Local Command, Robert Redfern, says the attacks on the Indian men were opportunistic, not racially motivated.

"There is no suggestion, as I say, that these incidents last night were racially motivated," he said.

"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, but we have been in communication with the Indian community for a very long time in this area.

"They are young people, often students, often working the sort of jobs that students work when they're young - late at night or early in the morning - so they're at risk of being assaulted opportunistically in the early hours of the morning or very late at night."

But the protesters say the attacks are becoming more frequent and police are not doing enough to stop them.

"I never come back home at night time," Student Ajay Kumar told AM.

"If I finish my work, I stay there. Why? Because I know if I come back, someone [will] smash me, someone [will] take my money. I know. Because I'm not safe here. Because Australian police are s***, fully ***t."

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

However, Mr Nassif says 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]," Mr Nassif said.