Customer attacked by machete in Coburg cafe

Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...7-2862,00.html

Shannon Deery
October 05, 2008 12:00am

FEARFUL traders are demanding a police crackdown after a customer was attacked by a machete-wielding group of youths in Coburg on Friday night.

Police were called to Cafe Efem in Sydney Rd about 10.30pm after three male youths cut the customer's wrist.

Cafe owner Nahid Atilan, 56, said the attack came after he turned the youths away because he feared they would scare his customers.

"They made trouble Thursday night, so I kicked them out and refused to have them back on Friday," Mr Atilan said.

"They returned Friday and started to push me around after I said they were not welcome.

"One of my best customers, Ahmed, came to help me and all of a sudden they took a machete out of their pants and started attacking us. How in the 21st century, in Melbourne, Australia, can someone try and kill me with a sword?"

A police spokeswoman said the customer was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he was in a stable condition last night.

Mr Atilan - who lives above the cafe - described the attack as sickening.

"They just came to kill, not make a point, just kill. It was unbelievable." he said.

The tussle spilled on to Sydney Rd, where the group broke Mr Atilan's outdoor tables, intimidated customers and tried to smash the cafe's glass frontage before fleeing to nearby Moreland station.

"They are very dangerous and they are just like animals," Mr Atilan said.

The cafe owner called for a police crackdown on gangs.

"I can't keep tackling this on my own. The police have to help, but they are useless," he said.

Other traders on the multi-cultural strip said Somali gangs had been increasingly menacing shop owners and patrons.

Ravi Mulakalapalli said a gang often caused trouble at the Caltex petrol station where he works.

"They come out at night and get together in the alleyways and car parks. We always have trouble here," Mr Mulakalapalli said.

"They are always drunk and come in here smoking. We always catch them stealing too. They have even had sex in my shop."

A Moreland CIU spokesman denied there was a gang culture in Coburg, adding: "I do believe the offenders were Somalis, but I don't know if they were a gang or not."

The Somali Cultural Association could not be contacted yesterday.

Andrews a racist: Bligh

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/10/05/1191091327365.html
Tony Moore
October 5, 2007 - 1:11PM

Premier Anna Bligh has launched a scathing attack on Federal Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, describing his comments about the Sudanese community as "racist" and as coming from the "deep south of America in the 1950s".

"I think frankly Australians will see Kevin Andrews' comments for what they are," Ms Bligh told a media conference in Brisbane this morning.

"It has been a long time since I have heard such a pure form of racism out of the mouth of any Australian politician. For it to come to come from the Immigration Minister is particularly disturbing.

Mr Andrews earlier this week cut the number of African refugees to be accepted into Australia each year, citing the failure of Sudanese refugees to properly integrate as one of the reasons behind the decision.

Ms Bligh said police data showed Sudanese refugees were not involved in crime any more frequently than any other sector of the Australian community.

"What the crime data shows in Queensland is that the Sudanese community is either under-represented in our crime statistics, or at the same as everybody else," she said.

Ms Bligh said she had been advised by police this morning that the highest proportion of Sudanese immigrants in Queensland was in Toowoomba.

"The police data shows us that those Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics."

She said Sudanese were basically law-abiding citizens and slammed Mr Andrews' stance.

"Kevin Andrews' comments are basically making a judgment about the character of people on the basis of their race," Ms Bligh said.