December 11, 2005 A day of race-fuelled violence at Cronulla spread through other beachside suburbs in Sydney's south on Sunday night, with one man stabbed and at least 10 arrested.
About 5,000 people descended on Cronulla beach as mobs yelling racist chants chased down and bashed people of Middle Eastern appearance.
Police and an ambulance crew were also assaulted as racial tensions peaked.
Hopes that the violence had subsided by nightfall were dashed when, in an apparent retaliatory strike, a 23-year-old man was stabbed in the back outside a golf club at nearby Woolooware.
Two cars carrying a group of males, described by police as being of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance, approached the man at about 10.25pm (AEDT) Sunday night.
Following a short conversation he was stabbed in the back, and was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
At about the same time, up to 50 carloads of youths smashed more than 100 cars with baseball bats and other weapons in the beach suburb of Maroubra.
Riot police were also called to the beachside suburb of Brighton-le-Sands to control groups of brawling youths who had reportedly thrown projectiles at police.
Ten people are believed to have been arrested.
Earlier on Sunday, when the trouble first flared at Cronulla, 12 people were charged after mobs of youths chanting racist slogans and carrying Australian flags attacked youths of Middle Eastern appearance.
Five police were injured when the mob turned on them.
Two paramedics were also injured as they tried to rescue a group of people from the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club, where they had fled to escape the violence.
The mob broke the ambulance vehicle's windows and kicked its doors as the paramedics tried to get the group out.
Police, who used capsicum spray and batons in their battle to subdue the rioters, were also pelted with beer bottles.
Some groups in the crowd, estimated to have peaked at 5,000, also stomped on and swarmed around police cars trying to move from one violent flare-up to the next.
Officers were forced to shut down some roads, which were littered with empty bottles as alcohol fuelled anger on the streets.
A group later made its way back to Cronulla for a retaliatory strike, where men of Middle Eastern appearance are reported to have bashed a local man unconscious.
A 23-year-old man was injured and more than 40 cars were smashed with baseball bats during violent scenes in Maroubra, in Sydney's east, overnight.
A group of about 60 men of Middle Eastern appearance and armed with baseball bats smashed about 40 parked cars at about 9 pm (AEDT) Sunday night.
The group then clashed with a local group, the Bra Boys, outside the Maroubra Bay Hotel.
A 23-year-old Maroubra man was taken to Prince of Wales hospital after he was stabbed with a sharp implement, believed to be a stick or nail, in the hip.
The windscreen of a police vehicle was smashed when police attempted to restore order.
Two police vehicles sustained minor panel damage, but no officers were injured.
Police established a roadblock to prevent more people from entering the suburb..