Pray for Australia

[AccountDeleted]

Australia has always been a multi-cultural society with tons of tolerance for cultural and religious differences. On the whole, Australia has been a very laid back kind of place, and violence here has always been a real aberration. 

But recently there have been some demonstrations against Muslims and it makes me sad to see fear making people irrational and intolerant of others. It's one thing to be against terrorism of any kind, and another to try to paint a whole ethnic or religious group as being 'the bad guys'.

So please pray for Australia, that the country regains its sanity and that fear doesn't pollute what have always been a really peaceful place and make it just one more place of violence in the world.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/antiislamic-protests-around-the-country-spark-ugly-standoffs-20150404-1mehwb.html 

 

Anti-Islamic protests around the country have sparked ugly stand-offs in Melbourne and Brisbane, with police being called in to keep rival protesters apart.

In Melbourne, hundreds of people washed spit from their faces on Saturday evening after clashes between supporters of Reclaim Australia, an anti-Islamic movement, and No Room For Racism, a coalition of trade union, community and left-wing groups, including the Socialist Alliance. 

Police on horseback held the two groups apart, but one-on-one screaming matches occasionally broke out into pushing and shoving. 

A Federation Square spokesman estimated 3000  people went at it noisily for more than three hours. Two men and a woman were arrested during the protests. 

The Sydney Reclaim Australia, which went ahead in pouring rain in Martin Place, was interrupted by a protester who ran onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from one of the organisers, Sarah Spearpoint, shouting to the crowd they should be "ashamed" of themselves. 

The woman put her fingers up at the crowd before being taken away by police with another woman who had accompanied her onto the stage. No charges were laid.

About 200 people turned up at the rally carrying placards that read "Protect Penrith", "Ban the Burqa", and T-shirts with the slogan "Support Our Troops Royal Australian Infidel" as simultaneous rallies were held around the country. 

In Brisbane, police kept protesters and counter-protesters apart. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson attended the rally there,  declaring she was not a racist and that "criticism is not racism". She told the rally that she was merely a proud Australian fighting for the country's democracy and way of life.

In Melbourne, organiser Mel Gregson said No Room for Racism was formed to shut down the 16 rallies across Australia planned by Reclaim Australia. 

The Reclaimers, on their Facebook page, describe their mission as: "We as patriotic Australians need to stand together to stop halal tax, sharia law & islamisation." 

Between noon and 3pm, Fairfax Media witnessed a prolonged venting of frustrations, half-baked ideas and outright hatred. In the end, it wasn't Muslims being hated, though,  it was the white people from each side incensed by the position and taunting of the other. 

A young woman taking on two heavyset middle-aged men, one with a shaved tattooed head, shrieked, "It's not Islam, it's the patriarchy!"

The men, visibly shaking with rage, let fly with their fears of the country being taken over and their taxes funding terrorism (via dole payments). 

John Elder, Natalie O'Brien, with AAP