BY EMMA CLANCY
PERTH — Around 250 people attended a rally outside Perth's Parliament House on November 9 to protest against the Coalition government's recent attacks on Islamic Australians.
Called by the Islamic Council of WA, the demonstration gave the victims of the ASIO raids an opportunity to speak of their ordeal. Teenager Yuleyani Suparta, described how she, her mother and younger brothers and sisters had been woken at 5am to find machine guns in their faces. "They forced my father to the floor at gunpoint, after smashing down the front door and windows", she said. The Suparta family was holding a banner which read, "Don't let the feds put guns to our heads!"
Islamic Council president Rahim Ghauri said, "Since September 11 [2001] there has been an effort by this government to degrade the reputation of Islamic Australians, through rhetoric about asylum seekers and about a war on Iraq".
"If the definition of terrorism is the use of force and fear against innocent people for a political end, then I think we can safely say that [the ASIO raids] were terrorist acts", commented the Socialist Alliance's Ian Bolas.
The protesters demanded that the government apologise to the radis' victims and compensate them for medical treatment and property damage and that it guarantee all Australians, including Muslims and other minorities, would "be treated equally and in a civilised manner".
From Green Left Weekly, November 13, 2002.
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