NSW: Home invasion racially motivated, Sinhalese leader says
18 May 2009 5:19 PM
A Sinhalese community leader says an acid attack on two Sri Lankan students during a Sydney home invasion was racially motivated.
The attack occurred on the same day Tamil Tiger rebels admitted defeat .. in their 37-year battle against Sri Lankan government forces for an independent ethnic homeland.
Police have appealed for calm after politically-motivated unrest in Sydney's west .. including a brawl involving more than 100 people at a supermarket car park on Sunday.
Dr PRYANKA BANDARA says she's been told a group of Tamils targeted the student's house at Westmead .. which was well known in the Sinhalese community.
Dr BANDARA says Australian Tamils had sent money to fund the Tigers and are upset the rebels have lost the war.
But she says she hopes the end to the civil war will bridge the divide between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities.
