Illusive Mind

From The Age: Somali youth to sue police over ‘unprovoked’ attack

A SOMALI-born youth leader at the centre of race allegations against Victoria Police has vowed to take civil action over what he says was an unprovoked police attack that left him with smashed teeth.

Ahmed Dini, 20, who required hospital treatment after being struck in the face with a heavy torch, announced plans to sue the officer involved last week, following a Melbourne magistrate’s ruling that a charge against Mr Dini of hindering police be dismissed.

The alleged police attack on Mr Dini on February 14 last year was one of 13 complaints alleging police brutality and harassment of African youths received by the Office of Police Integrity in the first few months of 2006.

The claims, including allegations of punching, kicking and choking, prompted a secret “ethical health” review of the Flemington Police Station, conducted for the Ethical Standards Department last year by Inspector Mark Doney.

In one of the most shocking cases, a youth alleged that he was punched twice in the head while his face was on the ground. He said a police officer then called him a “black c—” and stood on his head while smoking a cigarette.

The confidential Doney report, part of which was leaked to The Sunday Age last month, questioned the future of a senior sergeant accused by lawyers of running a regime of “racially motivated police violence” against local African youths.

Lawyers from the Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre, who have been trying to get the report under freedom of information, say there are now 19 complaints before the OPI alleging police assaults on African youths.

The alleged assault of Mr Dini — this year’s Moonee Valley youth of the year — took place as police searched a Flemington high-rise estate for youths who had allegedly thrown rocks at a police car.

During the Magistrate’s Court hearing of the charge against Mr Dini, Senior Constable Matthew Alston claimed that he was helping a colleague who was wrestling with Ghafoor Wakil, 20, who was later charged with resisting arrest; that charge also was dismissed last week.

He said Mr Dini was running over to interfere in the arrest and as he tried to stop him, his forearm struck Mr Dini’s chest.

However, Mr Dini told the court that he was standing 30 metres away holding a piece of cake in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in the other, when Senior Constable Alston ran up and ordered him to raise his arms. He obeyed, still holding the cake and drink. The police officer then used his torch to hit him “with full force” in the face, he said, knocking him to the ground. The court later heard the officer had hot chocolate on his clothes. Mr Dini said the impact of the blow dislodged three teeth. “I was saying ‘hospital’ — I wanted to save my teeth.”

Dismissing the charge of hindering police, Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said several aspects of the police case were “curious”, such as why Mr Dini would be running over to interfere in an arrest while holding a cup of hot chocolate.

He said Senior Constable Alston’s version failed to explain Mr Dini’s facial injuries.

Mr Dini’s lawyer, Tamar Hopkins, said she would begin civil proceedings for damages, including pain and suffering and medical expenses, against Senior Constable Alston.

However, a 2002 Court of Appeal ruling that police who behaved unreasonably were individually responsible for their actions meant Mr Dini might not be able to sue the State of Victoria, she said.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said that any legal action taken by individuals was “a matter for themselves”.

No-one in power in this country knows what the god damn word ‘systemic‘ means. “Police who behaved unreasonably were individually responsible for their actions”, are these people representatives of the state or not? They weren’t off duty.

Apparently the only racially systemic problems we have in this country is with certain races of people such as the Sudanese refugees who have been unfairly targeted by Kevin Andrews.

There is no such thing as racism in Australia. When race riots in Cronulla erupted John Howard’s condemnation amounted to:

I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country, I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people.

Maybe he took issue with the ‘underlying’ qualifier and cheerfully welcomes the overt racism in this country and in his government. Kevin Andrews’ demonization of the Sudanese community surely compounded the climate of fear and exclusion which lead to the vicious attack on Ajang Gor.

On Tuesday night, 17-year-old Ajang Gor and his brother Santo were riding their bikes in Melbourne’s western suburbs when they were approached by a group of men who started shouting racist abuse.

AJANG GOR, BASHING VICTIM: Saying, “You black dog,” and all those thoughts, “Can you jump over your bike and wait for us.” Then I said to them, “No, I’m in hurry”.

The brothers claim the group chased them and smashed a bottle on Ajang’s head. He was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital.

Did the minister condemn all acts of racially motivated violence? No. He stood by his comments and said the attack was a matter for the police. Instead he singled out an attack on a police officer by some drunk youths as not reflecting “the Australian way of life”. Even though the assistant police commissioner maintained that the attack had nothing to do with race and was an accidental confrontation with some drunk youths.

Andrews’ comment is a particularly insidious statement to make. Really? Violence isn’t an Australian way of life? You think? The Australian way, Australian values or being un-Australian is all code for you don’t belong here. Are there any values particular to Australia that aren’t universal secular humanist values? Peace,acceptance, friendship, honesty etc. etc. No. So you use these codewords when you want to exclude a group of people from an ill-defined community.

Acceptance and tolerance is a universal value but fear is also a universal emotion and the former has be fostered and nurtured by our leaders. But in a world where politicians are the real ‘terrorists’ by terrifying people with exaggerated threats to their safety and wellbeing, fear is the currency of power.

John Howard describes the invasion and pillaging of the Aboriginal people as a ‘blemish’ on our history. The colonies of Australia were convinced to federalize in part to stop Asian immigration and pacific islanders taking low paid employment. This nation of white European convicts and settlers believed this country ‘belonged’ to them. As a result one of the first acts of the new federal parliament was the White Australia Policy.

If anyone has integration issues clearly it is ‘us’. Look at the history. We have often described this country as a ‘multicultural’ success story, even though this government renamed the Immigration and Multicultural affairs portfolio to Immigration and Citizenship. The whole ‘multicultural’ branding didn’t jibe with their citizenship test designed to limit non-English speakers becoming Australian citizens.

Today The Age reports that up to seventy percent of Sudanese refugees that are settled he receive “no information about Australia before or after their arrival”. And what information do we receive about them? We get bashings and crimes highlighted to us by the tabloid media but there is no context given to the culture of these new Australians. We clearly have some integration issues.

It is easy to see only difference and be fearful of the other. We are a nation defined by our diversity and we must embrace it to foster a community of togetherness. When our leaders fail to do this by relying on fear and exclusion we must all be individually responsible.

There’s an Indian doctor who can’t get his Visa back, a kid who got hit in the head with a beer bottle, another who got his teeth smashed in, a refugee who found no refuge in a country filled with decent people. There’s something wrong with this picture, there’s something wrong with the system that inculcates this culture.

Take a stand for those around you, it’s time to overturn the climate of fear. Let’s make the ‘Australian way’ stand for peace and acceptance of all people. Don’t put up with racist attitudes.

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