The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of sectarian clashes and mob violence originating in Cronulla, New South Wales, and spreading, over the next few nights, to additional Sydney suburbs.
On 4 December 2005, a group of volunteer surf lifesavers were assaulted by a group of young men of Middle Eastern appearance, with several other violent assaults occurring over the next week. These incidents were widely reported and commented on in Sydney media. An initially peaceful crowd gathered in the morning of Sunday, 11 December 2005, and, by midday, approximately 5,000 people gathered at Cronulla beach to protest against a recent spate of violence against locals.
However, fuelled by alcohol, the crowd turned to violence when a young man of "Middle Eastern appearance"[1] was spotted on the beach. He was surrounded by a crowd outside a local hotel and attacked. Retaliatory riots also took place that night and on subsequent nights, resulting in extensive property damage and several more assaults, including one stabbing and even some attacks against ambulance and police officers.
The attacks were widely condemned by local, state and federal members of parliament, police, local community leaders, and residents of Cronulla and adjacent areas. A large number of arrests were made over the subsequent months, from both the initial riot on 11 December and the retaliatory riots held over the subsequent nights. The incidents tarnished Australia's international image, with several countries issuing travel warnings.
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N.S.W. police had been recording racial and ethnic tensions and incidents in and around Cronulla since October 2005.[2]
Just after 3 pm on Sunday, 4 December 2005,[1][3] police were called to North Cronulla Beach following a report of an assault on two off-duty surf lifesavers by members of a group of eight Middle Eastern men.[1][2][3][4][5] A verbal exchange had taken place after three lifesavers approached a group of four young Lebanese men on Cronulla Beach with both groups accusing the other of staring at them.[2] One of the Lebanese men responded to the accusations, "I'm allowed to; now fuck off and leave our beach",[2] to which a lifesaver responded, "I come down here out of my own spare time to save you dumb cunts from drowning; now piss off, you scum".[2]
The verbal exchange escalated with one Lebanese youth attempting to defuse the situation.[2] Another then threw a punch, missing, prompting a pushing match that escalated into a fight. One of the lifesavers was badly hurt after falling and striking his head.[2] One of the lifesavers later informed police that the four were part of a group of eight Lebanese that had been on the beach most of the day and that there had been no problems with their prior behaviour. Despite media reports to the contrary, no "Middle Eastern men converged on the area" and there were no more than the original eight present.[6][7]
| “ | What kind of grubs? Well I'll tell you what kind of grubs this lot were. This lot were Middle Eastern grubs. | ” |
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—Alan Jones, 5 December 2005, on 2GB radio[8] |
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A media report claimed that there was already tension between the community and Lebanese youths before this event and people, particularly women,[9] claimed to have been harassed, almost daily, by "groups of young Lebanese men"[9] attempting to "pick them up" and describing the women as being "Aussie sluts".[9]
The events were reported widely across the Sydney media, particularly on talkback radio.[10] Alan Jones of Sydney’s 2GB Radio called for "a rally, a street march, call it what you will. A community show of force",[10] calling the people responsible for the attack on the lifesavers “Middle Eastern grubs.”[11] When a listener, Berta, commented that she had heard "really derogatory remarks"[10] aimed at Middle Eastern people, Jones interrupted stating "We don't have Anglo-Saxon kids out there raping women in western Sydney".[10] Jones was later found to have breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) Code of Conduct section 1.3(a), as his comments were "likely to encourage violence or brutality and to vilify people of Lebanese and Middle-Eastern backgrounds on the basis of ethnicity".[11]
| “ | "This Sunday every Fucking [sic] Aussie in the shire [sic], get down to North Cronulla to help support Leb and wog [sic] bashing day...Bring your mates down and let's show them this is our beach and they're never welcome back" "Just a reminder that Cronulla's 1st wog [sic] bashing day is still on this Sunday. Chinks bashing day is on the 27th and the Jews are booked for early January" |
” |
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—Series of widely circulated SMS text messages believed to have instigated the gathering at Cronulla, [1][2][12] |
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Over the course of Sunday, 11 December 2005, approximately 5,000[1][4][13] people gathered in and around North Cronulla Beach. Early in the morning, people began to gather and impromptu barbecues and "partying"[1] took place. However, at 12:59, a young man of "Middle Eastern appearance"[1] was spotted on the beach and the crowds began "chanting stuff [and] yelling out things"[1] before rushing him.[1][2][13] The man attempted to avoid the crowd by quickly entering "Northies" (a local pub) but the crowd forcibly dragged him out and attacked him.[1] The police, having been in Cronulla since the early morning (including police helicopters and patrol boats), quickly intervened and resolved the situation.[1][4][13] A Cronulla High School teacher later claimed that the crowd had attacked the man after he had shouted "I'm going to blow youse [sic] all up" as he was dragged out.[9]
At 13:45, another two boys (from Bangladesh[1]) were surrounded by the crowd, and had bottles thrown at them,[2] with the crowd repeatedly chanting “Fuck off Lebs!”,[1] with the boys subsequently being able to escape by car.[1] Chants and slogans such as “Fuck off Lebs!”,[1] “We grew here, you flew here”,[12] “Aussie Pride”,[12] “Fuck off wogs!”,[1] were repeated throughout the day by the crowd. The crowd also attacked the police by throwing beer bottles.[1][4] Police vehicles were also swarmed and prevented from entering the area.[4]
Around 14:00 another three males were assaulted on the beach with the crowd throwing sausages and beer bottles at them.[2] At 13:30 two women verbally argued with a small group; the police arrived and both parties left. However, an hour later, they again met and a scuffle ensued.[2]
Rumours had persisted throughout the day that an additional 600 people[1] would arrive by train, mostly from the west of Cronulla, to join the crowds.[1] At approximately 15:00 “two young men of Middle Eastern appearance”[1] arrived at Cronulla train station with the crowd outside chanting “Fuck off wogs!”.[1] The two men took refuge in the train. However, the crowd entered and began assaulting them; a police officer entered the train and cleared the crowd.[2] At 15:20 two separate assaults took place; one involved a crowd attacking a man of “middle eastern appearance”[2] and throwing beer bottles. In this case an officer intervened and was able to remove the victim as they were both struck by the bottle.[2] A second assault took place outside a Nando's restaurant; 3 men were taken inside the restaurant as refuge and the diners already inside were moved towards the back.[2] The glass doors and windows were broken and those inside were moved outside without incident.[2]
By the end of the day 26 people were treated for injuries.[1][4] The 15:20 assault required both the victim and the police officer to receive hospital treatment.[2] A total of 16 were arrested and charged with 42 offences including: malicious damage,[3] assaulting a police officer,[3][4] affray,[3] offensive conduct,[3][4] resisting arrest[3] and numerous driving offences.[3] One police officer was hit by a car and two ambulance officers were also amongst the injured as their ambulance, under mounted police escort, was surrounded and beer bottles were thrown, with one of the ambulance officers being hit on the head with a bottle and the other receiving lacerations on their arm.[1][2][3][4][5]
At 19:45[2] around 100[1] locals of nearby Punchbowl, New South Wales (a suburb 20 km to Cronulla’s north–west) gathered together at the local Punchbowl Park.[1][2] Additional groups, armed with baseball bats, also gathered at The Promenade and Arncliffe Park.[2] Between 20:30 and 21:00 the groups formed a convoy of “more than 40 cars”[1][14] and drove down to the beaches “to get revenge”[1] with many of the cars ending up in Maroubra.[1] At 22:45 police were ordered “not to approach convoys of men of Middle Eastern appearance”[15] however car details and registration details were to be recorded.[15] A local of Maroubra reported that each of the cars that arrived was “full, you know had four passengers”[1] The convoy, of 100 to 200 people,[14][16] was reportedly armed with bars and bats, knives, machetes and guns.[1][14][17] The group assaulted several people, knocking one unconscious and threatening another with rape.[1][14][16] They also damaged between 60 and 100 cars, setting at least one on fire.[1][17] Police in riot gear moved to contain the violence and the crowds responded by throwing bricks and glass.[17][18] Residents reported that in some streets “every car”[19] had had their windows smashed, with glass covering the streets.[19] Police also confiscated 40 iron bars and arrested 14 people.[14][20]
A 26-year–old mechanic[21] dubbed “Dan”[22] was stabbed in the back three times and twice in the thigh with a 9.8 centimetre blade at approximately 22:25.[17][21] The incident occurred outside Woolooware golf club[17][18][21] when two cars carrying a group of males “described as being of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance”[17][18] approached the man and his friends. Dan and his friends attempted to flee from the group who were shouting “Get the Aussie dogs ... get the Aussie sluts”,[22] Dan was knocked to the ground and was repeatedly kicked in the head. The attack ended when the 9.8 centimetre knife snapped off in the victim's back.[21] He was taken to hospital in a serious condition.[17][18] The blade had narrowly missed his spine and lungs.[21]
Jake Schofield was attacked by a group of four men of “Middle Eastern appearance”,[23] the men beat Schofield repeatedly, stabbing him twice and hitting him with a piece of concrete before stealing his wallet and keys.[23] The attack left him with a fractured eye socket and fractured nose.[23]
Additional smaller riots occurred on the following nights in the suburbs of Marouba and Brighton-le-Sands as well as Cronulla.[24] Similar text messages had also turned up in other states including Queensland.[25] Victoria[25] and Western Australia.[25]
On 12 December, rioters had written various Anti-Australian sentiments including; “Aussi [sic] to Die”, “Intifada”, “It’s war”, “Sunday cowards die, Soldiers rize [sic]”, “Never rest assie [sic] dog”, “Yous came by chains u convict dogs”, and “We fear no ozy [sic] pigs” before continuing to destroy cars and local shops.[14][26] Approximately 2000 people gathered inside Lakemba Mosque with another 800 gathered outside the evening after the riot.[27] Sheikh Shady Suleiman spoke to the crowd and called for calm.[27] However some were armed with Glock pistols which they displayed to the media.[16] At least some of the people gathered were reported to have planned to go on to Maroubra,[26] however the police blocked roads leading into Maroubra and 20 police cars surrounded the mosque.[26] The Uniting Church in Auburn,[25] a predominantly Tongan congregation,[25] was burned and those attending christmas carols were abused and threatened.[14][25] More than 30 Molotov cocktails were also confiscated by police.[3]
800 police officers formed Operation Seta[3][14] and were on patrol on the following nights, with up to 450 police officers[28][29] blockading Cronulla on the night of 13 December[28] and an additional 11 people were arrested;[3] five were arrested in relation to a replica pistol and six were arrested for property damage.[3] An additional seven people were injured including another police officer.[3] A husband and wife were taken to hospital after the wife was struck in the head and the husband tried to defend her.[3] Another man was struck by a baseball bat and suffered a fractured forearm.[3]
Ali Osman,[30][31] 18, was charged with affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm for the original attacks on the volunteer lifesavers on 4 December 2005[30][31] and was given 300 hours of community service for the assault and 200 hours for affray though they would be served concurrently.[31][32] Osman was the only person charged over the attack.[33] Yahya Jamal Serhan was arrested over the stabbing of “Dan” on 12 December and charged with affray and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to 13 months jail but was immediately released after having already spent nine months in custody awaiting trial.[22][34] Dan was angered and disappointed by the sentence “I’ve got no feeling on the left hand side of my back where the knife broke off.”[34] A second person, a 17-year–old, was also questioned by police.[35]
Marcus Kapitza,[36] 28, was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to one charge of riot.[36] On the day of the riot Kapitza wore a singlet with the words “Mohammed was a camel-raping faggot.”[36] He was also involved in the attack at the train station shouting “Fuck off! Fuck off the Lebs.”[36] Brent Lohman,[37] 19, was also charged over the train station assault was sentenced to 11 months in jail.[37]
Two of the youths who attacked Jake Schofield turned themselves in to police and were charged with armed robbery, wounding, malicious wounding with intent, affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.[23] Two others, Wael Tahan and Mahmoud Eid,[38] had been arrested on the night of the attack but were released without charge before being rearrested and charged with robbery in company, malicious wounding causing grievous bodily harm and affray.[38]
Brett Andrew King appeared in court in January 2006[23] charged with sending two text messages 42 times for a retaliatory riot on 18 December 2005.[23] Jeffrey Ismail[39] was also charged with sending two text messages under the pseudonym of John Gotti.[39]
A 16-year-old Lebanese immigrant, Ali Ammar, was arrested and jailed for seven months for stealing an Australian flag from the Brighton-le-Sands RSL club. Following his release, Ammar appeared on television to present an official apology and in 2007 he was sponsored by the RSL to walk the Kokoda track after the State President of the NSW RSL met him at a Reconciliation Conference.[40]
Strike Force Enoggera was established on 13 December 2005, tasked with investigating the riots.[3][35][41] The strike force initially consisted of 28 members under the command of Superintendent Dennis Bray, but was later increased to 100 officers on 20 January 2006.[42] During a radio interview NSW Police Commissioner Moroney claimed to have no video footage of the retaliatory attacks on 11 December, however it was later revealed that the police had had a video for five weeks, leading Moroney to sack Bray.[42] Bray was later reinstated to a lesser role, having been replaced by Detective Superintendent Ken Mckay.[43]
By 19 July 2006,[44] police had laid 285 charges against 104 people, 51 having been arrested as a result of the original Cronulla riot and 53 arrested from the retaliation riots.[35][44] These persons had been charged with, amongst other things: malicious damage, possession or use of a prohibited weapon, assaulting police, rioting, resisting arrest, threatening violence and affray.[44][45]
| “ | We knew always there was racism, but we never knew it was to this extent. I mean, all your life you've been – you've been raised to be Australian. I mean, you carry the Australian flag. When you go to sports events and all that, you're happy to be Australian and all that. And all of sudden people reject you. “Go home!” They shout your names. Like, “Go home, you Middle Eastern Lebs,” or whatever. “Go home.” I mean, that's a shock to us. “Go home.” I mean, like, you get cut inside your heart, you know. Like you feel like you're not part of society no more. | ” |
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—Eiad Diyab, a local of Punchbowl, talking to Four Corners., [1] |
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Brian Wilshire, a 2GB radio host, stated the following weekend on air: “Many of them have parents who are first cousins whose parents are first cousins, the result of this inbreeding—the result of which is uneducationable [sic] people ... and very low IQ”,[46] comments he later apologized for.[46]
An anti-racism rally, attended by 2000 people, was held in Bourke Street, Melbourne.[46]
Writing a year after the riots, novelist Hsu-Ming Teo was worried that Australian multiculturalism was being eroded.[12] Stating that multiculturalism was one of Australia’s defining features that allowed it to broker differences with its geographical neighbours,[12] and that it was almost unique in its ethnic and cultural origins,[12] she suggested that in recent years multiculturalism had begun to be derided with politicians calling for one homogeneous non-divisible Australian culture citing, amongst others, the “popularity and success”[12] of Pauline Hanson.[12]
The New South Wales parliament convened on 15 December to pass laws giving police new powers[14][24][47] including: the ability to seize cars and mobile phones for up to seven days, close licensed premises and prohibit bringing alcohol into lock–down zones.[29][47] A new offence of “assault during a public disorder” was also introduced and both rioting and affray had their minimum sentences increased.[29][47] NSW Premier Morris Iemma called the attacks “disgusting, cowardly behaviour”[48] and condemned the rioters. He also called on the community leaders to use “their influence to get the hot heads to cool it.”[48]
NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney called the riots “absolutely totally un-Australian”,[4][5][13] saying that “I saw, in my 40 years of police service, some of the most disgraceful behaviour and conduct by adults that I’d ever seen.”[49] NSW Opposition leader Peter Debnam called it “a real disgrace” and called for a tougher police response.[4] Australian Prime Minister John Howard condemned the violence describing it as “sickening and deplorable”[45] but denied any racial undertones, saying the events were primarily an issue of law and order[45][47] — a view echoed by the Treasurer Peter Costello, who described the Sydney riots as "an example of hoodlums who got out of control.”[46] Federal opposition leader Kim Beazley described the attacks as “simply criminal behaviour, that’s all there is to it”.[45]
| “ | Look at what a beautiful day it is. The weekend before Christmas. Over there should be absolutely packed, but there’s just a sea of empty tables. | ” |
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—Daryl Peat, a restaurant and bar owner in Terrigal on the New South Wales Central Coast, [50] |
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Many of the small businesses in and around Terrigal on the New South Wales Central Coast reported that a police lockdown of the beach caused business to drop to 10% of normal levels on a Saturday, with only 25% of Christmas shopping crowds turning up on the Sunday.[50] Tourism and Hospitality workers in the area were laid off or had their hours cut.[51] The NSW state government announced a A$250,000 tourism campaign after authorities in Great Britain, Canada, and Indonesia issued travel warnings to their citizens.[52]