Indian student attacked in car park

03 June 2009 | 08:29:37 AM | Source: AAP

police_sign_3006_L_aap_292268532

Police are investigating attacks on students in Melbourne and Sydney. (AAP)

An Indian student has suffered minor injuries in an attempted armed robbery in Melbourne's southeast.

4

Comments | Add yours


The attack comes as Indian students say they have lost confidence in police to investigate a spate of crimes they say is racially targeted at them.
   
Police say they have appealed for witnesses to the latest attack, in the car park at Chisholm Institute of TAFE in Dandenong about 1.30pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old student was confronted by up to five men in the car park, police said.

One demanded a cigarette and money from the man, who refused to hand over anything.

The group set upon the man, with one slashing him across the chest.

He suffered a minor laceration and made his own way to a police station to report the crime.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Karla Dennis said the attack was not thought to be racially motivated.

Tensions over attacks on Indian people prompted a protest in central Melbourne on Sunday and the gridlocking of a major city intersection throughout the night by up to 400 demonstrators.

The demonstration was broken up about 5am (AEST) by police, who have since been accused of being too heavy-handed with protesters.

The issue of racially motivated attacks has raised headlines in India, with New Delhi warning violence against its students in Australia could jeopardise the numbers of Indians coming to Australia to study, earning the country $2 billion a year.

Police believe that while some of the attacks may be racially-motivated, it is more likely part of a broader issue of escalating street violence.

 

top

Your Comments

10 Jan 2010 15:37 AEST

Amit Menghani

From: ALTONA GATE

Indians Being Harassed In Australia

I don’t believe this.  Unbelievable, I feel ashamed to be an Indian today. I would always lift my head up, proudly to be from a place like India. I sincerely hope and pray, Indians in India will look within before looking out and criticizing Australia. Amit Menghani

Agree (0 people agree)
Disagree (1 people disagree)
 

09 Jan 2010 18:43 AEST

GM

From: Melbourne

How is it racist?

A group of four men were carrying an inflammable liquid on the street and perhaps they accidently spilled it on a car. In all likelihood, one of them then lit a lighter to light his smoke which unfortunately ignited the flammable liquid. The person in the car could have been anyone. It is highly unlikely that the group of four men even saw him entering his car. Calling these attacks racist is presumptions. After all we hear such news of people setting other people alight in Melbourne almost everyday? Don't we? What’s all the fuss about?

Agree (0 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

03 Jun 2009 21:08 AEST

eer

From: Melbourne

bigger issue is trash

Race an issue? partly. But the bigger issue is that australia has a lot of trash. In most countries ( usa, uk, france, germany etc), the trash stays away from urban area. Unfortunately, in australia, the trash is all over city streets.

Agree (6 people agree)
Disagree (1 people disagree)
 

03 Jun 2009 11:33 AEST

Smith

From: Armidale nsw

Attacks on Indian Students

Each country has its problems from observation there is a political agenda. India has its fair share of violence as demonstrated in demonstrations in India and certainly just recently. Using intimidation and manipulation noticed the radicals were out in force disturbing the peace for all.Its taxpayers money that runs services perhaps they need to listen to advice given too. Violence is not acceptable for anyone but this approach isn't helpul and doesn't give a true picture

Agree (1 people agree)
Disagree (10 people disagree)
 

Join the Discussion

E.g. Suburb / City
You have characters remaining.
Validation (
) :
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.