Sydney beachgoers stay away
17/12/2005 08:49 - (SA)
North Cronulla Beach, Australia - Never has going to the beach in Australia been more difficult. Or intimidating.
At North Cronulla, the scene of attacks by white locals against people of Middle Eastern appearance a week ago, only about 100 people braved threats of more violence on Saturday to sunbathe or swim.
Normally there would be several thousand beachgoers on a warm summer weekend, but threats received by police that people armed with baseball bats, sticks and poles could attack kept people away.
Those who ignored the warnings faced lengthy traffic backups as police checked every car travelling into the district.
Police inflatable boats bobbed offshore
Helicopters often drowned out the sound of the surf, police inflatable boats bobbed offshore and police horses moved in and around sunbathers on the beaches at Cronulla and elsewhere around Sydney.
"It's a bit scary, there's no one here," Ann Chamberlin, a local mother of teenage children, said at North Cronulla.
Despite warnings that the real trouble would happen on Sunday - when Lebanese gangs might try to retaliate for being attacked by drunken groups of white men a week earlier - local mayor Kevin Schreiber urged the public to ignore the warnings and support struggling local businesses.
"Some of the local retailers face ruin," said Schreiber. These people have been affected by something that is totally out of the ordinary. I've never seen anything like it before."
Beachfront business has fallen more than 50%
Chef Nathan Allouche said business at his beachfront restaurant had fallen more than 50% since Sunday's riots.
"Monday and Tuesday, the phones didn't stop ringing with cancellations," Allouche said. "It's unbelievable."
Chamberlin said she agreed with the mayor that local businesses needed their support.
"There's a risk, we know that much," said Chamberlin. "But we've got to get on with our lives."
The whites who rioted on Sunday reportedly did so in retaliation for an attack by Lebanese gang members on two lifeguards the week before.
On Saturday, on a beach usually thronging with swimmers, officials from the local surf club held a media conference to announce they would try to recruit some Lebanese or other Middle Eastern lifesavers in an effort to reach out to minority groups.
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