Dinah Lord

Australia: Violence flares over race movie...

Guess which 'race'?

From the BBC.

A film set during the race riots that hit Australia four years ago has been pulled from cinemas in Sydney after fights broke out during screenings.

"The Combination" centres on tensions between gangs of Australian Lebanese and white youths in Sydney's western suburbs in 2005. It was pulled by one of Australia's cinema chains, Greater Union, after violence flared outside two cinemas.  The Australian Film Syndicate (AFS) called the move "unprecedented".

Greater Union said it had cancelled screenings of the film in all four of its Sydney cinemas after violent incidents in its suburban Parramatta cinema on Thursday and Saturday nights.  "Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority," Greater Union general manager Robert Flynn said in a statement.

AFS managing director Allanah Zitserman said Greater Union's decision to pull the critically-acclaimed film was "devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences". She said in a statement: "Although we do not support the decision by Greater Union to pull the film from its NSW sites we respect and understand their position."

...

The film can still be seen at other cinema chains in New South Wales state, as well as cinemas in other Australian cities.

The excuses are already being made - mustn't alarm the sheeple, after all...  The manager has never pulled a film before -although, he has pulled them from cinemas in the middle East.  And now the movie is about 'gangs'.  Wasn't I just wondering out loud why the religion o'peace seems to just be made up of mobbed up thugs?  Gah!  Assaults not linked to 'gang film'.

The cinema chain alleges a security guard was assaulted in Parramatta on Thursday after asking a patron to put out his cigarette during a screening.

Security at the complex was doubled to eight the following day, but an usher was assaulted as a fight broke out during the film's credits on Saturday night.

"It's very, very disappointing for me," the film's writer and lead, George Basha, said yesterday. "It doesn't glorify violence … The film is about love. It's about choices. It's about family. It's about honour."

Greater Union's general manager of operations, Robert Flynn, could not recall another instance where a film has been pulled in Australia because of violence at a cinema.  "I ran our Middle East operations for six years," he said. "And I have pulled films in the Middle East."

Last night, the company was unable to articulate what exactly concerned them about the film - whether its content was believed to have incited the violence, or whether it was drawing an audience predisposed to violence.

"It was a decision by management based on our staff," Mr Flynn said.

"At this stage we have merely suspended the screenings until we can actually get a debrief from all staff involved. I'm standing with one now and I'm looking at his swollen jaw."

Police said the film did not cause the violence. There was nothing in the incident reports to suggest it did. No one has been cautioned or charged.

"The alleged incidents do not seem to be the result of any film," a spokesman said last night. "Police attended a minute [after the brawl was reported] with no sign of anyone fighting. There were just people leaving."

Here's an example of the propaganda being put out by the Live Leb or Die Muslim gangbangers.

Arrested Australian Arsonist identified.

His name is Brendan Sokaluk.  (ed. note:  this is not the person in the composite photo seen here.  This is the Facebook firebug with a thing for child pornography.  That guy.)

From the Telegraph. (h/t mean gene at the LGF link thingy)

A man accused of setting one of the deadly fires that ripped across southern Australia this month has been placed in protective custody amid widespread fury and threats of vigilante justice that sprang up on the Internet after his identity was made public. The man, Brendan Sokaluk, was arrested Friday and charged with arson causing death; he is suspected of setting a fire near Churchill, in the Gippsland region east of Melbourne, that killed at least 10 people and destroyed 200 homes. Mr. Sokaluk, 39, was also charged with deliberately lighting a forest fire and possessing child pornography.

A court at first ordered that Mr. Sokaluk’s identity be withheld for fear of revenge attacks on his family. But within hours of his arrest, several Australian newspapers had published detailed profiles that all but named him, pieced together from entries he had posted on social networking sites and from interviews with his neighbors.

The local news media reported that on the day of Mr. Sokaluk’s arrest, throngs of people descended on a police station in the Gippsland region where they believed he was being held, shouting and banging on the police van that transported him to a more secure facility.

Australia burns. Jihadists celebrate.

You all remember the rumors regarding forest fire by jihad.  Well, it would seem that it doesn't matter who started the conflagration - as long as the infidel suffers, the Islamos will be happy. 

From the Herald Sun

Terror watchdogs said fundamentalists had blogged on websites across the globe, applauding the lives lost and destruction.

Senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group Adam Raisman said they were posting pictures of burnt homes and devastated victims and "taking joy in the scenes".

One jihadist wrote: "It would be an act of revenge for Australian's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Bushfires victims said they were stunned.

"We're minding our own business and trying to cope with all this and they are celebrating our suffering," said Denise McCann who lost her home in the Kinglake blaze.

Regional Islamic Council vice-president Dr Ameer Ali said the comments did not represent the wider Muslim community.

"They have no idea what they are talking about," he said.

Excuse me, Dr. Ali.  Not for nothing, you better wake up and smell the forest fires.