There is no suggestion that an assault on a Muslim woman in Melbourne's CBD was racially motivated, police say.
The 21-year-old woman was walking down a CBD street on Thursday afternoon, when a shirtless man punched her in the head, causing her to fall and hit her head on the pavement.
The man said nothing to her before the attack and police say the victim, who was treated at the scene for minor injuries, was surprised to see media reports suggesting it was racially motivated.
Islamophobia Register Australia said a 16-year-old Muslim boy stepped in to stop the attack but police refute this claim.
They say an unknown boy did speak to officers at the scene but he was creating a "stir" and swearing while making certain allegations.
The 21-year-old Muslim woman is said to be “shaken up” after being allegedly punched in the face outside Victoria’s State Library on Thursday afternoon.
The victim, from Dandenong in Melbourne’s south-east, was attacked at 1.10pm by an unknown man.
According to the Islamophobia Register, who first reported the incident, a 16-year-old boy tried to intervene before the attacker fled the scene.
The woman was checked by paramedics at the scene, but was not injured.
Victoria Police has confirmed it is investigating the incident, and is trying to determine if it was “racially motivated”.
Police also negated widely circulating reports that the attacker tried to rip the woman’s hijab off her head.
“It was one blow to the head. The rest is untrue,” a spokesperson for Victoria Police said.
Lydia Shelley, the vice president of the Islamophobia Register, said the group was providing support for the woman.
“Both the person who stepped in, who’s only a young lad, and the victim, are both quite shaken up,” Ms Shelley said.
“We’ve directed them to seek the appropriate counsel. That’s at the forefront of our minds; make sure they are mentally well.”
Ms Shelley, who is herself a young Muslim woman, said she was shocked to hear about the assault.
“It makes me feel very sad, because I don’t think fundamentally that any violence against women is acceptable,” Ms Shelley said.
“Unfortunately it’s just becoming all too common to hear reports about Muslim women being attacked, particularly with children present. It is concerning.”
Ms Shelley said she now feared younger women in Australia’s Islamic communities would be deterred from engaging with others.
“Without a doubt in Australia, a woman has a right to be in public, to wear what she likes, and to fully participate in society,” she said.
“What we don’t want to see is Muslim women, especially in Melbourne, to use these incidents to withdraw from public life out of fear.”
“This is a criminal act, and if it’s religiously motivated I would expect that the crime unit would come down like a ton of bricks on this guy.”
Silma Ihram from the Australian Muslim Women’s Association said this latest attack added further strain on relations between Islamic communities and the rest of the country.
“It doesn’t help,” she told SBS.
“It’s very important that we build the community resilience, that we build that community hub. We need to bring our community together and not have it divided.”
“Each of these incidents cause a further division in society where one group feels really afraid and the other group feels really empowered to victimise that group. This encourages attacks on Muslims and causes some Muslim communities to feel more under attack and become more isolated.”
Ms Ihram said she believed a united front was the only way forward, and hoped that would reduce the rate of similar attacks.
“There’s not enough social infrastructure. We’re not putting enough into building community resilience, into building community harmony,” she said.
“It’s very important that we build the community resilience, that we build that community hub. We need to bring our community together and not have it divided.”
A spokeswoman from State Library Victoria said they did not believe the alleged assault took place on the library's grounds.
"State Library Victoria’s security team and front of house staff were not aware of this incident and were not involved in any way yesterday," she said.
"The alleged assault reported today is a matter for Victoria Police, and the State Library is fully cooperating with their investigation.
"State Library Victoria is absolutely a safe space. Security is onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week. State Library Victoria is monitored by CCTV and other security measures and our security patrol the library forecourt at all times."
