SYDNEY QUIET BUT TENSE

Just so you know, I've lived in Australia for coming up on 30 years – all of that time in Western Australia – and, while I can claim to have a good understanding of Australia and Australians, I can't claim any special understanding of events over east. Anyway, here are some links to help you stay informed:

Sydneysiders Tim Blair and Romeo Mike are both updating regularly.

Evil Pundit reports that all is not well amongst lefties organising Sunday's "United Against Racism" rally:

So a left-wing pacifist gets banned from a left-wing forum for expressing concern about the use of aggressive language in left-wing propaganda.

The ABC reports that Cronulla beach is almost empty and local businesses relying on beachgoer trade are really suffering.

The Weekend Australian has an overview:

Long before race riots broke out last weekend, trouble was brewing on Sydney beaches. Lifesavers who volunteer at North Cronulla - that gorgeous beach in Sydney's south that was the setting for Puberty Blues - have been complaining for years about a weekend invasion.

They don't mean by other freckled Anglo-Saxon sunseekers. It's the "young men of Middle Eastern appearance", the Arabs, predominantly from Lebanon, who arrive, en masse, in hotted-up cars, who rile them. These men - most of them still in their late teens or early 20s, who are Australian-born to Lebanese parents, often Muslim - come from the working-class western and southwestern suburbs, which have no beaches of their own.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders have denounced the violence while blaming radio 2GB for raising tensions – a Sydney shock-jock has apologized for comments about inbreeding within the Lebanese Muslim community. (I know nothing about marriage within Australia's Lebanese Muslim community and can't comment but the Muslim inbreeding "problem" has recently been raised in the UK.)

Update: Perth Muslims have been asked to stay away from some beaches:

Police are monitoring for any signs of violence stemming from a series of racist text messages calling for Australians to gather at Mullaloo and Scarborough beaches.

The head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, says he has asked Muslim parents not to go to the two beaches until the situation calms down.

Update II: The SMH has a very interesting article attributing the Lebanese youth "problem" to rebellion arising from rejection. Joseph Wakim of the Australian Arabic Council sums up the situation:

"They become like mini-terrorists and the deeper they go, the harder it is to reform them."

It sounds like the police had better be prepared.