Australian concert flag ban sparks anger
Fears of race clashes on Monday led organizers of Australia’s biggest outdoor rock concert to bar fans from carrying the national flag, sparking a furious reaction from the country’s prime minister and war veterans. After fights between ethnic Croatian and Serbian fans outside the Australian Open tennis tournament last week and 2005 race clashes on Sydney’s beaches, Big Day Out concert organizers said Australia’s flag was a “gang color” which could incite hatred. “It was racism disguised as patriotism and I’m not going to tolerate it,” event producer Ken West told Australian newspapers. The concert Web site said the flag… Read more »
