Indian racially abused, assaulted in alleged hate crime in Australia

Teenagers hurled abuses like “you bloody black Indians”

An Indian man from Kerala was assaulted by a group of teenagers in Australia’s Hobart city in an alleged case of racial abuse.

Li Max Joy, a nursing student, and a part-time taxi driver, said that five people assaulted him and hurled abuses like “you bloody black Indians” at the McDonald’s restaurant at North Hobart, The Hindu reported.

The 33-year-old from Kerala’s Puthuppally, Kottayam said that the teenagers, including a girl, were arguing with a McDonald’s worker when he went there for a coffee after returning from a trip.  As they noticed Joy, the teenagers turned their anger towards him and beat him up.

“A big boy in a black T-shirt yelled racial abuses and attacked me without any provocation. I was literally shocked,” Joy, who is living in Hobart for last eight years, told Manorama News, a Malayalam news channel. “Nobody intervened when I was attacked.”

He was admitted to Royal Hobart Hospital with a bleeding cut above his right eyebrow. After getting discharged from the hospital, Joy reported the incident to police.

“The racial mood is definitely changing. It is continuous now.  Many other drivers have been abused but not everyone reports it to the police,” he said.

Last week, a priest from Kerala was also attacked in Australia while leading a mass. Tomy Kalathoor Matthew was stabbed inside a church in Melbourne by an Italian assailant who reportedly yelled: “You are an Indian, a Hindu or Muslim, you cannot say mass, I will kill you.”