'You can't change your skin colour': Racial attacks on Indian men in Australia, Ireland spark backlash
An Indian student in Australia was ambushed and assaulted by a group of five men in Adelaide, Australia, during a car parking dispute.
In a video that was taken by the wife of the man, Charanpreet Singh, 23, the five individuals are seen beating and then kicking him on the ground near Kintore Avenue. She can be heard screaming “please don't” as she filmed the scene.
Singh was out with his wife to see the city light displays at around 9.22 pm when a group of men who were driving behind him approached and dragged him from his car, called him racial slurs and physically assaulted him despite there being no provocation.
After the assault, the group rushed to their car and drove off.
In an interview with 9News, Singh described the incident, saying, “They just said F*ck off Indian, and after that, they just started punching me”
He was then rushed to the hospital for brain trauma and facial fractures. So far, only one of the assailants, a 20-year-old, has been arrested.
Singh said, "You can change everything else, but you can't change your skin colour." “Things like this, when these things happen, it makes you feel like you should go back,” he said in the interview.
The Indian community has called for change on social media and rallied to support the student.
South Australia’s Premier Peter Malinauskas told the media, “Any time we see any evidence of any racial attack, it is just not consistent with where the majority of our community are at.”
Another racially motivated incident in Dublin
Meanwhile, another Indian man in his 40s was attacked by a gang with racist motivations in Dublin, Ireland, earlier this week. The gang had partially stripped him and then robbed him of his belongings in Tallaght. The man was taken to Tallaght hospital, according to local media reports.
The Irish Police (Gardaí ) have started their investigations into the incident; however, there have been no arrests made so far. Gardaí have asked people not to share the footage related to the incident on social media.
The local council leader who met with the man told Irish Independent that “He couldn’t speak much because of the shock he was in; he only arrived in Ireland three weeks ago. He is not taking any visitors at the moment.”
"People need to understand that many Indian people moving to Ireland are here on work permits, to study and work in the healthcare sector or in IT and so on, providing critical skills,” he added.
According to a report by the Irish Times, the man was targeted by a gang who falsely accused him of acting inappropriately around children.
A protest to denounce racist violence in Ireland is scheduled to be held on July 26.
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