Some attacks on Indians were racially motivated, admits Australia

Australia on Tuesday admitted for the first time that some of the recent attacks on Indians in the country were 'racially motivated', even as the authorities asked protesting community members not to take the law in their own hands and 'let the police do their jobs'.

Victorian Police Commissioner Simon Overland, who had been denying any racial angle to attacks against Indians, admitted that some of the recent attacks were 'racist'.

"We also feel that the police force should be multicultural and people from different communities, including Indians, should join the police," he told foreign journalists.

Rattled by the first act of retaliation by the Indian community in Melbourne following racial attacks on them, Australian authorities on Tuesday asked Indian students to disband their patrol groups and "let the police do their jobs."

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the federal government had been working with Victoria and other states to ensure that Indian students feel safe in Australia.

"As a national government we're concerned about any manifestations of violence in any part of the community," Gillard was quoted as saying by the local media.

Her comments came in the wake of hundreds of Indian students protesting against the continuing attacks on the community members, especially students. Police said they had to call the dog squad to control the protesters who were wielding sticks and baseball bats.

The students gathered at the main street of Harris Park to protest against the recent racial violence.

The demonstration began on Monday night after a 20-year-old Indian student was allegedly assaulted by a group of men of Middle Eastern appearance, the police said.

Besides, Indians have also formed groups to protect students from racial attacks at St Albans and Thomastown railway stations in Melbourne's west after a spate of assaults on the community members in the area.

Indians conducting their own security patrols should "leave and let police do their jobs," a police official said.

She said the police had already boosted patrols on the troubled train line, the railway stations and at a St Albans shopping centre to prevent further attacks.

"We have been talking to them about their concerns and because of that have increased patrols in the area," she said.

The students have complied to police request to move but then returned the following night or gone to other locations, the spokeswoman said.

On Monday, a 20-year-old man was stabbed in a western suburb of Melbourne after he had allegedly racially abused a group of Indian students in possibly the first act of retaliation.

The spokeswoman refused to confirm whether two men who stabbed the youth in St Albans were Indians.

No one has yet been charged over the incident. The victim allegedly said, "You are black. You don't belong here. Go away from our country."

The attack on the victim was the first time Indian students appeared to have retaliated against violent attacks against them as they walk back home late at night, the daily said.

Meanwhile, the Australian police on Tuesday denied racial motive behind a string of violent attacks on Indian students recently in Sydney's west, even as the community members organised an angry protest rally in Harris Park of the city on Monday night.

According to police officer Robert Redfern, the Parramatta local area commander, the attacks were "opportunistic" and not racially motivated.

"Certainly it would appear to us that they are opportunistic and this is an area of Harris Park where there is a very large Indian community," he said.

Redfern said police worked closely with the Indian community and had reduced the area's crime rate.

"There is a youth student safety subcommittee that's working with the Indian Consulate, we're working with that group and we'll continue to do so," he said.