Adelaide mourns Manmeet

Agathering ofmore than600 people brought flowers and candles as aspontaneous gesture ofgrief,dismay and loss ar tl1e horrific killing of Manmeet ALisher. letookplace .ind1e heart of Adelaide's centralsquare,Tandanyunga (formerly known asVicwriaSquare). Surrom1dedby d1e constantstream of trams and buses,ir seemed fitting tohonour Manmeet at themost prominent public placeinAdelaide.

The gatl1ering was addressedby Transport Minister Stephen Mulligan,Minster for Multicultural Affairs ZoeBettison,and Federal lvfP Steve Georganas whoexpressed d1eir sorrowandsupport. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Youngpraisedthe Somh Sudanese-Australianman Aguek Nyokwho heroically broke opentl1e bus tOsave tl1e other passengers.The crowdthenheard from South Australian .MLATung Ngo, d1e LordMayor ofAdelaideMartin Haese, andSecretary of tl1e T\X'U Ian Smith. Local friend of Manmeet,Mintu Brar read a personalmessage andthen ashort message of thanks frornManmeet's brother, Amit Sharma.

Organiserstl1eninvitedthe crowdcosir duringa 30minute kirtanprogram. Only then could the size of the crowd beseen. It wasverymovtng toseesuch ahuge gathering of people -Soum Asian, African, European andAsianAustralians -seated in solidarity, in sorrow,andunitedinthought andintention,as Adelaideworkerspassed