This Article is From Jun 29, 2009

Not all Aus attacks racist, says Indian student panel

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Melbourne:

An Indian student group that spearheaded the campaign against a spate of racial attacks on the community in Australia now says that all such assaults were "not racist". Meanwhile, two more persons injured in the latest incident Down Under have been identified as Indians.

The stand of FISA (Federation of Indian Student Association) is likely to calm down prevailing hysteria in the country, which has witnessed a total of 19 such incidents.

"Two Indian students have been assaulted in Sydney's CBD overnight, with one man suffering cuts to his face after being hit by a beer bottle," the ABC reported about the incident that took place on Sunday.

Giving a new twist to its earlier made statements, FISA now stated that not all attacks were racist.

"It will be unfair to say that all attacks were racist or all Australians were racist. However, we will still take attacks on its face value," organisation's spokesperson Gautum Gupta said.

Stating that while there was a very thin line to indicate whether the attack was a racial one or was a petty crimes, Gupta maintained "there is an urgent need to take an action against such attacks that are growing in numbers across the Australia over the past few years."

Speaking to a visiting Indian media delegation here along with the Australian media, Gupta said that in most of the cases, the attacks ended with a racial slur.

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