Life's no beach in Sydney

You may be surprised to learn that most Middle Eastern people agree: any person of any culture, including their own, should be arrested and punished in accordance with the law.

Having said this, the Lebanese community is severely disappointed and shocked at the level of racism shown in this angry, drunken display of intolerance. Why target an entire community who love this country when they have done nothing wrong? The answer is that, as Keysar Trad the founder of the Islamic Friendship Association puts it, “Racism has been brewing for some time. The actions delivered by the thousands of ‘Aussie locals’ is outrageous, unacceptable and certainly un-Australian”.

Surely young Australians, who claim they don't believe in violence or gangs, will not stoop to the level of unacceptable violence of these Middle Eastern groups and retaliate in the same fashion?

I watched, horrified, as Australians sung my national anthem out loud, along with the famous Australian Waltzing Matilda, as if to try and justify their racist behaviour. They used the anthems I have sung proudly at school and at football games and slanted it with an image that there is no room for multiculturalism in this country. Well perhaps these people should re-address their misinformed meaning of Advance Australian Fair.

At the end of the day Cronulla beach may be home to the locals, and the Sutherland shire may be predominately Anglo-Australian, but the beach belongs to us all.