MELBOURNE: A man of Indian-origin was allegedly assaulted by a group of teenagers, who hurled racial abuses at him at a restaurant in Tasmania, Australia. The incident came to light a week after a Catholic priest of Indian heritage was stabbed in the neck at a Melbourne church.
Li Max Joy, 33, alleged that five people, including a girl, hurled racial abuses like “you bloody black Indians” at him, and assaulted him at the McDonald's restaurant at North Hobart. He said that the five were arguing with a worker inside the store but soon turned towards him the moment they noticed him. While they did leave when others in the outlet telephoned the police, they came back later and assaulted him again.
Joy was admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital with bleeding wound, and he reported the incident to the police when he was later discharged. “They were angry at the McDonald's staff but turned their anger on me in the car park and then inside the store.” A part time taxi driver pursuing a nursing course, he has been living in Hobart for the last eight years. He said, “The racial mood is definitely changing. It is continuous now. Many other drivers have been abused but not everyone reports it to the police.”
Joy has sought intervention of the external affairs ministry to make sure the accused are punished. He also alleged that there was no serious efforts from the authorities to bring the guilty to justice. On 20 March, an Indian-origin Catholic priest was stabbed in the neck at a church in Melbourne by a man who called him unqualified to say mass as he was an Indian, prompting the Indian consulate to take up the matter with the police. A man armed with a knife approached Tomy Kalathoor Mathew, 48, in the church foyer moments before the Italian-language mass at St Matthew's Parish in Fawkner.
