racism on australia day

I guess Australia Day is a good opportunity for racists to show their true colors.

Those t-shirts in Darwin are quite dumb. Not a smart business idea.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24968553-5001021,00.html

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Violence, crime and accidents marr Australia DayArticle from: January 27, 2009 07:00am

AS the nation celebrated yesterday and last night, a series of unpleasant incidents marred Australia Day - with 92 people arrested in Sydney alone.

The fight followed an outburst of violence in Manly, with flag-draped youths running amok and smashing up cars.


Police denied the Corso rampage was racist in nature - but meanwhile in Darwin a shop was been slammed for marking the national day by selling T-shirts with alleged race-hate messages.

Police this morning revealed they arrested 92 people and charged them with 113 offences during Australia Day celebrations in Sydney.
However, police say they were pleased with the day as an estimated 500,000 streamed into the city's CBD and foreshore on Monday for festivities.

At a party at Cronulla, in Sydney's south, officers arrested a 24-year-old man and a 23-year-old Brazilian woman after a replica handgun was seized.

The pair was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit and granted bail to appear in Sutherland Local Court on February 19.

In the CBD, police had to use capsicum spray to subdue a 25-year-old man at Circular Quay after he allegedly threatened and assaulted a ferry employee.

He was charged with common assault and resisting arrest and will appear in Downing Centre Local Court on March 9.

Police charged 30 people with 110 offences on January 26 last year .

STABBED IN BRAWL

FOUR people are in hospital with stab wounds after a brawl involving up to 20 men in a car park in Sydney's west last night.

The injured men, aged between 18 to 25, ran to a nearby church hall on Merrylands Rd, Merrylands when police arrived about 10.15pm.

Another 22-year-old man was found with a stab wound to his leg in Newman St, a block away from the car park.

The men were treated at the scene and taken to Westmead Hospital.

Police will interview the men today.

RACE ROW T-SHIRTS

A DARWIN shop has been blasted for selling Australia Day shirts emblazoned with "racist" messages that "hark back to the days of Pauline Hanson".

One of the shirts, on display in the front window of the Drunken Goat variety store in Casuarina, proudly proclaimed, "This is Australia. We eat meat, we drink beer, and we speak f***kin English".

Another featured a picture of the Australian flag with the message "Support it or F*** OFF".

The manager of the store was unavailable to comment yesterday but community groups were outraged that the store would offer these shirts as part of their Australia Day window display.

Africa-Australia Friendship Association president Judy Monkhouse said she was "appalled" by the comments.

"If indeed that's what they say, it is quite astonishing to see this in Darwin, in particular, which is celebrated for the fact that so many different ethnicities exist together in relative harmony," she said. Ms Monkhouse - a Zimbabwean-born english teacher - said the T-shirts "hark back to the days of Pauline Hanson".

Greek Orthodox Community of North Australia president John Nicolakis said these shirts were "the last thing they should have displayed on Australia Day".