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Viewing cable 09MELBOURNE65, Indian Students Protest "Racist Attacks"

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09MELBOURNE65 2009-06-02 04:24 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Melbourne
VZCZCXRO7990
RR RUEHPT
DE RUEHBN #0065/01 1530424
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020424Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL MELBOURNE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4944
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 3593
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0121
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0033
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 2096
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 1572
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000065 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL IN AS
SUBJECT: Indian Students Protest "Racist Attacks" 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) Indian international students staged a large protest in 
Melbourne on May 31-June 1 claiming that they are being 
disproportionately targeted in a recent spike of robberies and 
assaults in Victoria and that police are not doing enough to stop the 
crimes.  Police forcibly removed some protesters at the end of the 
overnight sit-in and arrested one man for assault; there are claims 
that police used excessive force.  Victoria police admit that some 
crimes have been racially motivated, but insist that many acts were 
simply "opportunistic" in nature.  Providing tertiary education to 
foreign students is a US $12.4 billion industry in Australia and is 
the country's third largest export.  While overseas student numbers 
have not yet fallen off, perceptions of Australia as a safe place to 
send students are critically important to the business of education. 
End Summary. 
 
Overnight Sit-In 
---------------- 
 
2. (U) Approximately 1,400 protesters gathered in Melbourne's central 
business district on May 31 claiming that a recent spike in violence 
against Indian students was motivated by racism.  Protestors said that 
Indians are overrepresented as victims of crime in Australia and that 
police are not doing enough to stop the violence.  Protesters carried 
signs saying "hate racists, not Indians," "students not safe in 
Australia," and "end racist violence."  The protest concluded at 
approximately 5:00 AM on June 1 after the participants decided to 
stage an overnight sit-in.  Police detained but later released 18 
protesters for "breaching the peace," and arrested one man after he 
allegedly threw missiles and broke several windows at the historic 
Flinders Street train station.  Victoria Police Chief Commissioner 
Simon Overland denied that excessive force was used to disperse the 
protesters despite claims that several of the participants were 
punched or forcibly removed at the conclusion of the rally. 
 
3. (U) The rally was organized by the Federation of Indian Students 
of Australia. Gautam Gupta, a spokesman for the organization, publicly 
stated that "we want a multicultural police section and we want crime 
statistics made public so we know the extent of the problem."  Gupta 
went on to say that the government should run an advertisement 
campaign highlighting the positive influence international students 
and migrants have on Australian society.  The march started at the 
Royal Melbourne hospital where a 25-year old Indian student remains in 
intensive care after being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver at a 
party two weeks ago.  In Parliament on June 1, Prime Minister Kevin 
Rudd described these attacks as "senseless acts of violence," and said 
that he had separately told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 
May 29 that the more than 90,0000 Indian students are "welcome guests" 
in Australia. 
 
Police Response 
--------------- 
 
4. (U) During a June 1 press briefing, Victoria Police Chief 
Commissioner Simon Overland noted a trend of escalating robberies in 
Melbourne and its suburbs against "soft targets."  In 2007-2008, 1,447 
people of Indian origin fell victim to crimes such as robberies and 
assaults, an increase from 1,082 such crimes the previous year.  This 
was compared with 24,260 Caucasian victims and 36,765 victims overall. 
 He described these as opportunistic robberies of people walking alone 
late at night with visible valuables such as laptops, ipods, or cell 
phones.  While Overland conceded that some of the attacks were 
racially motivated, he believes that Indian students have been caught 
up in a broader trend of increasing robberies and violence over the 
past 18 months. 
 
5. (SBU) Victoria Police have increased their presence in Melbourne's 
western suburbs which are home to many Indian students and Overland 
claimed that robberies are already falling in these neighborhoods. 
Police contacts did not rule out racism as a motivation for at least 
some of the attacks, but they noted that Indian students may be easier 
targets of opportunity due to outside employment activities. 
According to these contacts, many Indian students find employment 
opportunities driving taxis or working in the service industry during 
late hours.  As many of these students use public transportation to 
return home after work, they may be exposed to criminal activity more 
than other groups. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
6. (SBU) Growing concerns over student safety may take a toll on 
Australia's important education sector.  International education is 
now Australia's third largest export industry behind coal and iron 
ore.  In 2008, the industry was valued at US $12.4 billion.  In 
 
MELBOURNE 00000065  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
Victoria, education "exports" are now the state's largest export 
industry, well ahead of the tourism and automotive sectors.  There 
were over 159,000 international students enrolled in Victoria in 2008. 
Although we have not yet seen signs of this important sector falling 
off, perceptions of Australia as a safe place to send students to 
study abroad are critically important to the "business of education" 
here. 
 
THURSTON