Neo-Nazis Blamed for Sydney Riots

The Australian prime minister today condemned yesterday's race riots in Sydney as "totally unacceptable" and called for ethnic and religious tolerance.

John Howard also denied the country had a problem with racism in the wake of the worst race riots ever witnessed in Australia.

"Attacking people on the basis of race and ethnicity is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians, irrespective of background and politics," he said.

"I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of some 40 years and we have done so with remarkable success."

Mr Howard was speaking as local media reported that police had intercepted text messages calling for revenge attacks for the riots next weekend.

The violence erupted on Sunday after an assault earlier in the week on two lifeguards at Cronulla Beach, south of Sydney, allegedly carried out by a group of Lebanese men.

Around 5,000 people attended a rally in Cronulla as gangs of young white men began attacking people of Middle Eastern appearance. The fighting spread to other areas of Sydney in a series of apparent revenge attacks by members of the Muslim community.

The riots left more than 30 people injured, including police and medical staff, and led to 16 arrests. One man was hospitalised after being stabbed.

Last night, Morris Iemma, the Labour premier of New South Wales (NSW), said police would hunt down those responsible for starting the riots, which authorities believe were encouraged by neo-Nazis.

"There appears to be an element of white supremacists and they really have no place in mainstream Australian society. Those sort of characters are best placed in Berlin 1930s, not in Cronulla 2005," NSW police minister, Carl Scully, said.

Mr Howard called for greater understanding between the different communities living in Sydney.

"It is important that we reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in this country, but it is also important that we place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism," he said.

Mr Iemma has called senior Muslim and community leaders together in a bid to prevent further revenge attacks next weekend.

Kuranda Seyit, the director of Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations, criticised all those involved in the rioting.

"Australia is a pluralist society, with many faiths and traditions all ravelled into one," he said. "This is the unique success of this nation and we cannot let it fall into chaos and lawlessness."

Last year, rioting broke out in a mainly Aborigine area of Sydney. The fighting was sparked when TJ Hickey, 17, died after being impaled on a fence when he fell off his bike in Redfern. Police denied claims he was being chased by officers at the time.

The fighting lasted nine hours, left 40 police injured and led to more than five arrests. At the time, the riots were labelled the worst ever seen in Sydney.