MissSarajevo
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- 2005
Harris Park violence 'going on for years'Street thugs in Harris Park, in Sydney's west, were violently attacking elderly white women for a number of years before shifting their focus to Indians, says a NSW politician who raised the problem of violence in the suburb in State Parliament two years ago.
Gordon Moyes, a member of the NSW upper house, said he understood Indian students' rage at being "picked on", but believed the problem of street crime in Harris Park had gone unaddressed for years.
Meanwhile local businesses have expressed fears that Harris Park - a "sister shopping area" to nearby Parramatta - could turn into a "ghost town" as a result of the unruly protests and street violence.
Indian students 'easy targets'
A leading member of the Sydney Indian community says he believes most of the attacks on local Indian students are opportunist crime.
Mr Moyes, a Christian Democrats MP, said he first became aware of violent street crime in Harris Park a number of years ago when, as head of Wesley Mission, he found his workers were repeatedly robbed while helping people in the area.
"I found that over a period of time many elderly Anglo-Saxon women were attacked and robbed and had their purses snatched and phones stolen," he said.
He said the attacks were mainly carried out by young Middle-Eastern men.
"It was mainly street crime but it was street crime with threats, they were very aggressive. And there were concerns that police weren't around at the time when they were needed."
He raised the issue in Parliament in 2007, questioning the "inability of police to contain" the crime, and called for more police patrols.
"What has happened over the last few years is that a number of Indians students, attracted by fairly cheap accommodation, have come into the area," he said.
"The target - always the soft targets - moved from elderly people walking on the street to Indian students with laptops. I think elderly 'Anglos' became more cautious in venturing out, and the target shifted to another group."
Mr Moyes did not believe the attacks were motivated by traditional racism.
He said the offenders also tended not to be recent immigrants, but were people born in Australia and brought up around the Harris Park and Granville areas.
"This has been their turf for as long as they've been alive, and now they've got different people moving in - there's a bit of assertion on street areas."
Mr Moyes said the anger of young Indians mirrored concerns previously held by the elderly.
"I can understand the rage that has built up, and the way groups of them have decided to come together to protest.
"Any time any group in the community feels like they are being picked on, whether it's elderly pensioners or young Indian students - and feel no one is doing anything about it - they are going to get angry.
:mad1: