Indian students protest racist attacks
A rousing rally at Sydney Town Hall last Sunday was the setting for Indian students to air their grievances over the treatment of international students, sparking a new wave of protests against alleged racial intolerance.
Around 200 protestors gathered to voice their anger at what they perceived as a spate of racially-motivated attacks over the last few weeks, as well as police inaction in dealing with the problem.
Student and part-time taxi driver Navjot Singh, who was recently attacked and slashed across the face with a knife, said: “They [police] are doing absolutely nothing [to keep people safe]. I’m pretty sure if a white person walks in to a police station and says [an attack] happened to them, their first question wouldn’t be why you were out on the streets at that hour.”
He said police need to do more to protect foreign students, saying racist attacks occurred regularly in areas of Sydney with large Indian populations.
Asif Khen, an IT student who has lived in Australia for 18 months, said he and his two friends had come to protest against racist attacks.
“We’ve been attacked three times. One time was in our home – [the attackers] followed us home and broke all the windows in our house,” he said.
“They threw bottles while driving by, three or four of them – and the police said, ‘What were you doing sitting outside your house’? They made us clean up the street.”
The protestors received strong backing from the National Union of Students. President David Barrow told the rally that current government policy treated foreign students as “cash cows” and amounted to systemic discrimination.
The protests stem in the wake of a series of attacks last month, including those perpetrated on Melbourne student Sravan Kumar Theerthala, who was stabbed with a screwdriver by gatecrashers at a party, and 25-year-old Rajesh Kumar, seriously injured when a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of his Sydney home.
Earlier this week, however, Indian community leaders called for an end to the street rallies, saying they had served their purpose.
– BY SHANT FABRICATORIAN
