Melbourne: Talking tough, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday warned Indian students against "vigilante action" to prevent attacks against them and sought to downplay the race angle by saying that "up to" 20 Australians were "murdered or assaulted" in India in the last decade.
As the agitated Indian community held a second night of protests in Sydney against racial violence, Rudd appealed for calm and promised "hardline measures" against such attacks.
"It's unacceptable for anyone to commit an act of violence against any student of any ethnicity anywhere in Australia," the Prime Minister said.
At the same time, he noted that 20 Australians have either been murdered or assaulted in India over the last decade. "Let's get our statistics right. Australians in India at any time run the risk also of some violence."
"In the last decade I was advised, we had, I think, up to 20 Australians who have either been murdered or had various forms of assault committed against them," he said.
"That is not the result of Australians being targeted in India; it's just a fact of violence in the cities around the world...I do think we need some balance in this debate."
Rudd said while violence in all Australian cities was "a regrettable part" of urban life, vigilante action was equally unwelcome. "We also need to render as completely unacceptable people taking the law into their own hands."