On Saturday, the 15th of September 2012, members of the Australian community held a protest in Sydney’s CBD expressing their opposition to the anti-Islam film released in the US. The protest got out of control and led to violent clashes between some protesters and police. This resulted in a number of protesters being arrested and sparked a media frenzy.
The outcome of the protest shocked the wider Australian Muslim community resulting in confusion amongst many Muslims. This led to several Muslim community organisations, Leaders and Imams to come together, assess the situation and provide a unified response to the incident. As a result a Crises Management Team was formed.
A Crises Management report has been compiled to provide the Australian Muslim community a review of the efforts and steps taken by the Crises Management Team (CMT) and community organisations when responding to the Sydney protests against the anti-Islam film on Saturday the 15th of September, 2012.
Here is an extract of the report (full report is attached at the end of this article).
Crises Management Report
CMT’s review of the Response to Sydney Protests
The purpose of this report is to provide the Australian Muslim community a review of the efforts and steps taken by the Crises Management Team (CMT) and community organisations when responding to the Sydney protests against the anti-Islam film on Saturday the 15th of September, 2012. In addition, the report provides; a high level account of events, Crises Management Team formation, outcomes achieved, steps going forward and recommendations.
Excluded from this report is any analysis and position statements from the Crises Management Team and Muslim community organisations in relation to the film and protest. This can be found in the press releases published post the event.
This community report covers the period from which the protests commenced (Saturday, 15th of September 2012) until Sunday, 30th of September 2012.
Incident Account
On Saturday, the 15th of September 2012, members of the Australian community held a protest in Sydney’s CBD expressing their opposition to the anti-Islam film released in the US. The protest got out of control and led to violent clashes between some protesters and police. This resulted in a number of protesters being arrested and sparked a media frenzy.
Community Response
The outcome of the protest shocked the wider Australian Muslim community resulting in confusion amongst many Muslims. This led to several Muslim community organisations, Leaders and Imams to come together, assess the situation and provide a unified response to the incident. As a result a Crises Management Team was formed.
Crises Management Team
The Crises Management Team (CMT) was formed informally by a number of community leaders from various organisations as a consultative and facilitative unit. The team came together on the Saturday night after an emergency meeting was called. The CMT’s main goal was to get the representative community organisations working together and facilitate to achieve the following:
Investigate what led to the violent clashes.
Assist community organisations and imams to generate a unified message to AustralianMuslims and the wider Australian community.
Ensure the community remains calm and responds constructively to the incident.
Provide a unified response to the Media, Politicians and the wider Australian community.
Take preventative measures to minimise the probability of such violent protests from re-occurring.
Provide a mechanism for reporting anti-Muslim hate mail.
Work with the authorities to ensure such violence does not re-occur.
Liaise with politicians to ensure the Muslim community’s needs are met and Muslim vilification is minimised.
The Crises Management Team members were:
Khaled Sukkarieh – Islamic Council of New South Wales (ICNSW)
Nada Roude – Islamic Council of New South Wales (ICNSW)
Samier Dandan – Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA)
Eman Dandan – Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA)
Ahmed Kilani – Muslim Village (MV)
Zachariah Matthews – Just Media Advocacy (JMA)
Sahar Dandan – D2 Logic Community & Cultural Consulting (D2 Logic)
Ahmad Malas – Muslim Students Association of Australia (MSAA)
Read the full report below:
Sydney Protests 2012 – Muslim Community Crises Management Report.pdf