MELBOURNE (AFP) — About 200 Australian police broke up a sit-in
protest against violent attacks on Indian students, detaining 18 and
drawing accusations of excessive force.
Trouble flared when
police moved in to clear the protest in Melbourne's city centre before
the morning rush hour, punching and dragging away individual
protesters, according to activists.
Several hundred students
protested overnight to draw attention to "curry bashings" -- alleged
racial violence against Indians which has left one victim in a coma and
strained relations with New Delhi.
"There was definitely an amount of excessive force by Victoria police," protester Yogesh Malhotra told ABC radio.
"Six (police) to one guy who was sitting down peacefully, who was punched and dragged."
Victoria
police commissioner Simon Overland said using force was justified
because the protesters had ignored a final order to leave a busy street.
"There were blows, as I said because arms had been linked, and there was a lot of resistance going on," he told reporters.
"If
someone inadvertently got hit in the mouth and got injured I regret
that, but that came about on the part of the actions of the
demonstrators after they'd been given every opportunity to leave the
area."
The students were demanding action after more than 70
assaults on their peers in a year in Melbourne, including at least four
in the past fortnight, attracting prominent coverage in newspapers here
and in India.
The issue has tested diplomatic ties between
Canberra and New Delhi, as well as leading to Australia being labelled
racist in the Indian media, which coined the term "curry bashings."
Police
say that 30 percent of assaults in Melbourne's western suburbs are
against Indians, a grossly disproportionate figure in a city of almost
four million with an Indian student population of less than 50,000.
But
they deny any racial element to the attacks, arguing Indian students
are often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time as they travel
home late with items such as mobile phones and MP3 players.
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