Racial Frictions Fuel Riots; the Clashes Are Part of the Worst Ethnic Violence to Occur in Australia in Decades

Summary

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A Muslim cleric in a gray robe and white skull cap sits down with a youth in a baseball cap and shorts for talks on cooling tensions. Lebanese members of a motorcycle gang and a group of surfers agree both sides need to calm down.

Some unlikely alliances are being formed to try to head off any escalation in the ugly fighting on beaches near Sydney this week that exposed racial divides and tarnished Australians' self-image as a nation of laid-back, sun-kissed beachgoers.

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Extract

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Racial Frictions Fuel Riots; the Clashes Are Part of the Worst Ethnic Violence to Occur in Australia in Decades

The clashes, some of the worst ethnic violence in Australia in decades, are more racially motivated than religious. Only about 300,000 Muslims live among Australia's 20 million people, and many here with Middle Eastern ancestry ...

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