It all began with an assault on two lifeguards at Sydney's Cronulla Beach, allegedly by people of Middle Eastern descent. This beach is popular with Muslim youth from the neighboring western and southern suburbs of Sydney.
After that, a crowd of five thousand, chanting “Down with the Lebanese!” and “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” (a slang term for an Australian), moved toward the beach, attacking anyone who even remotely resembled an Arab. Then the unrest spread to other parts of Sydney. There, Muslim youth began smashing cars, and a white Australian received a knife wound. Order was restored only after the intervention of special police units. However, towards evening, the riots resumed in the suburbs of Sydney.
The events in Sydney recalled the recent dramatic events in the suburbs of Paris. Academic Secretary of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vyacheslav Amirov, in a conversation with “Vremya Novostey”, noted that the modern ethnic palette of Australia was formed differently than in France. The influx of Muslim population began after World War II, when large communities of Egyptians, Lebanese, and other people from the Middle and Near East emerged in Australia, settling in large cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. However, according to the expert, these were “fairly well-off members of the middle class, capable of fitting into the socio-political and economic realities of the country.”
Nevertheless, in recent years, anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia has noticeably strengthened. Our interlocutor associates this primarily with the terrorist threat posed by Islamic extremists. After all, among the victims of the bloody terrorist attacks on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002 and at the Australian embassy building in Jakarta in 2004, there were many Australians, which could not but make a corresponding impression on society. In November, 18 Muslims were arrested in Sydney and Melbourne on charges of preparing terrorist attacks.
Australian authorities are better prepared for the situation than the French. Australia's immigration legislation is selective in nature. It is liberal regarding family reunification, and introduces a well-developed points system for assessing immigrants' language skills, their needs in education and health care. But at the same time, it provides strict measures against illegal immigrants and those who break the law. Therefore, our expert believes, the situation in Australia is unlikely to develop according to the French scenario. “Australia is not Europe, and the country's authorities will act more harshly,” he stressed.
In addition, the effect of the Muslim factor is “diluted” by the presence in the 20 million-strong Australian society of more numerous people from East and Southeast Asia - Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Filipinos - making up about 5% of the population (compared with 2% of “Middle Eastern” Muslims) and traditionally occupying lower social rungs. In the event of an aggravation of the economic or socio-political situation, it is the latter who may become the main focus of discontent among “white Australians”.