community forums

After being released though the station's rear exit, the youth re-entered the building at the front entrance, telling the officer on duty that he wished to make a complaint. According to the youth, the officer then "called one of the coppers that were beating me up. Another copper came in and goes to me, "If you don't get out of here now, I'll pull you back in'. And I left."

Tredwell Lukondeh, president of the Sydney-based Federation of African Communities Council (FACC), says that he is not surprised by the report's findings. "What is surprising is the degree to which the report highlights the tiffanys. We do have concerns from various community leaders about the issue in question," Lukondeh told IPS.

The FACC, comprised of African groups from around Australia, is now collating data regarding police treatment of African-Australians to present to both the police force and the state government. But Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland argues that police have done much to strengthen relations with different ethnic communities, including the African community. These efforts include community forums, the appointment of more tiffany ring officers, police-youth camps and joint sports activities.

Overland says that tension between police and young immigrants "is not a new problem."

"With every wave of migration we've had problems with youths. If you go back far enough it was the Italian wave, the Greek wave, the Vietnamese wave and what we're seeing now is a wave of migration coming out of Africa. And predictably we're seeing tensions with youth," Overland told the Australian Broadcasting Commission's local radio in March.

While no African nation was among the top 10 source countries of the more tiffany jewellery 158,000 people migrating permanently to Australia in the 12 months prior to Jun. 30, 2009 - the latest period for which figures are available - Australia's African community has swelled in recent years.