It began in the beachside suburb of Cronulla on 11 December, and spread over to additional suburbs the next few nights. The riots were triggered by an event the previous Sunday, when an altercation turned physical between a group of youths of Middle Eastern appearance and lifeguards on Cronulla beach. Following the reporting of this event by the tabloid media and shock jocks on local radio, a racially motivated gathering was organised via chain texting for the following weekend.
A crowd gathered at Cronulla on the morning of Sunday, 11 December, and, by midday, approximately 5, people had gathered near the beach. The gathering turned violent and the police attempted to protect individuals of ethnic minority groups who were attacked by the rioters.
Violence spread to other southern suburbs of Sydney, where assaults occurred, including two stabbings and attacks on ambulances and police officers. Travel warnings for Australia were issued by some countries but were later removed. The riots were widely condemned by local, state, and federal members of parliament, police, local community leaders, and residents of Cronulla and adjacent areas.
An abnormally large number of arrests were made over the subsequent months thanks to a giant police effort, from both the initial riot on 11 December and the retaliations over the subsequent nights. Some media were criticised and well-known radio personality Alan Jones was formally censured and fined for his inflammatory broadcasts during that week. New South Wales Police had been recording racial and ethnic tensions and incidents in and around Cronulla since October Just after on Sunday, 4 December , police were called to North Cronulla Beach following a report of an assault on two off-duty surf lifesavers by four members of a group of eight men.
One of the Australian Lebanese men reportedly responded to the accusations, "I'm allowed to; now fuck off and leave our beach", to which a lifesaver responded, "I come down here out of my own spare time to save you cunts from drowning". The verbal exchange escalated with one Australian Lebanese youth attempting to defuse the situation. Another then threw a punch, missing, prompting a pushing match that escalated into a fight.
