Australia: residents rally against racism

from ABC:

A rally will be held in Newcastle today to counter a racist campaign against Sudanese refugees, who have been resettled in the city.

A group called the Concerned Citizens Collective claims the Sudanese are linked to local crime activity.

A claim police have refuted.

A pro-refugee meeting has been organised to rally against racism.

Organiser Simon Butler says the community needs to stand up and oppose such blatant intolerance.

"I feel disgust, outrage, but I also feel that people need to stand up against this racism, which will only be emboldened if people stay silent," he said.

"I think we need to nip this in the bud with a strong positive public response of anti-racism and really demonstrate that we're not going to tolerate racists."

"Our message for the protest is 'refugees are welcome, racists are not'," Mr Butler added.

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