Last weekend a crowd of about 500 people swept through downtown Sydney protesting some You Tube video about the prophet Muhammad. The protests were focused in Hyde Park (right across the street from where I work) and Martin Place, where the US consulate is located. It ended up all over the news since it turned into a non-peaceful demonstration, with six police officers being injured and several people arrested. One of the more disturbing images to come out of the whole thing was of a child holding this sign while his mom took a photo:
Australians tend to be less delicate than Americans when talking about race issues, and this demonstration just renewed a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment. One of the main principles here (and one that I had to agree to in writing to get a visa) is that if a person is living in Australia, they should do their best to respect the country's values, and in this case I have to agree completely. If you want to enjoy your freedom of speech by demonstrating peacefully, then you should also respect the freedom of speech of some idiot (who isn't even Australian) to make a movie about your prophet.
Part of what bums me out about the whole thing is that an anti-American demonstration has brought violence to Australia, a country that has managed to avoid a lot of drama so far. The US consulate even issued a warning to American citizens in Australia advising them to avoid the central business district this weekend and to not identify themselves as American for the time being. Fortunately it looks like not much is going on downtown this weekend!
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