The last time I visited a beach in Sydney, Australia was a decade and a half ago, so I am not exactly up to speed with the recent riots there. My immediate reaction was that the press accounts were unduly eager to identify the rioters as whites and the Lebanese (or as they were most described "Middle—Eastern—appearing people") as pure victims. It took the MSM at least a week to discern that the rioters in Paris were Muslims, and they almost never reported the cries of "Allahu Akbar!", so my view their reportage is understandably jaundiced.

The First Post today publishes a brief account that strikes me as much more reasonable:

...a consequence of a long—running working—class conflict between Sydney's Lebanese neighbourhood and its adjoining overwhelmingly Anglo—Celtic community.

The tension dates back to 2001 when there was a spate of horrific gang rapes of Anglo girls by young men of Lebanese background, resulting in unprecedented jail sentences of up to 55 years. Since then, there has been considerable gangsta—style behaviour from some Lebanese Australian youths and this has come up against the repellent behaviour of the Surfie gangs, such as the "Bra" boys from Maroubra.

It's not precisely a case of race against race: it's more one variety of yobbo gang culture against another.

Cronulla beach in Sydney is the most accessible beach via the excellent commuter rail system Sydney enjoys. It therefore attracts large numbers of people from the less affluent neighborhoods, and is a natural place for ruffians of any background to clash.

However, it also should be amatter of course that immigrants adapt to their new homeland. The sort of behavior First Post describes

Muslim youths smashing in car windows with baseball bats and screaming that Australian sluts should be raped... carol services disrupted by Islamic gunshots in the street outside...

should never be tolerated. The fact that the authorities have not been strict enough in the past to elminate it has to be seen as a contirbuting factor to the current riots.

Thomas Lifson  12 15 05