Rudd warns Indian students against vigilante action

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday warned Indian students against "vigilante action" as the agitated Indian community held a second night of protests in Sydney against racial violence against them.

 Promising "hardline measures" against racial attacks, Rudd said, "it's unacceptable for anyone to commit an act of violence against any student of any ethnicity anywhere in Australia."
 
He said while violence in all Australian cities was "a regrettable part" of urban life, vigilante action was equally unwelcome.
 
"I fully support hardline measures in response to any act of violence towards any student anywhere - Indian or otherwise," he said.
 
"And furthermore we also need to render as completely unacceptable people taking the law into their own hands.

Everyone needs just to draw some breath on this and we need to see a greater atmosphere of general calm," he said.
 
Rudd's remarks came close on the heels of acts of retaliation by the Indians following racial attacks on them.
 
Indian students have also formed groups to protect students from racial attacks.
 
Last night, over 70 Indian men gathered in Harris Park in Sydney's west after rumours of a man being killed in an attack and assault on an Indian cleaner in Warwick Farm.