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February 21, 2004
Race Riots Down Under
From The Age:
- The inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern remained on edge today following a race riot that left 40 police injured and sparked three separate investigations.
Police were pelted with bottles, rocks and Molotov cocktails as officers in riot gear using high-pressure hoses struggled to contain the violent mob. At the height of the riots, a police officer was knocked unconscious by a brick to the head and had to be dragged from the frontline, while others suffered broken limbs. Redfern railway station was torched, its windows smashed, and cars were firebombed. Petrol bombs were hurled through the air and police reinforcements were called in from across Sydney.
The violence, sparked by the death of 17-year-old Thomas Hickey, known as TJ, has sunk relations between the local Aboriginal community and police. The teenager died in hospital yesterday after becoming impaled on a fence while riding his pushbike on Saturday.
Ken, you were kinda wrong: the rest of the civilized world does have race riots, after all.
Posted by crandal at February 21, 2004 01:08 PM