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AN INDIAN MAN who was attacked last weekend in Dublin has said that the Indian community “no longer feels safe” in Ireland.
Santosh Yadav was assaulted at around 11.15pm on Sunday, 27 July close to Clondalkin train station.
Yadav told The Journal that he was walking with his friend back to his apartment after having dinner when the assault happened.
“Suddenly there is a group of five or six teenagers, some of them on bicycles and electric scooters,” said Yadav.
“They approached from behind, I couldn’t see them, and they snatched my glasses and broke them.
“They started hitting me and it all happened within three minutes or so but I was shocked, I was not aware that any such thing could happen.”
He said the group hit him all over his body.
“I was bleeding and after hitting me, they immediately left.
“My friend was screaming and she was trying to save me.”
He was taken by ambulance to Blanchardstown Hospital and was there for close to 15 hours.
He suffered a broken cheek bone and said that he whole face was swelled after the attack.
Yadav said he feels that he was attacked “based on my skin colour” and added that his attackers were “white teenagers”.
Earlier today, the Indian Embassy in Ireland issued a safety advisory to citizens after a recent increase in physical attacks against citizens.
The Embassy said it has been in touch with the relevant authorities concerning an “increase in physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland”.
It has advised Indian citizens to “take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours”.
On such assault occurred on 19 July, when a man in his 40s was assaulted by a group of youths in the Parkhill Road area of Kilnamanagh in south-west Dublin after being falsely accused of inappropriate behaviour.
The man was stripped of his pants and underwear by the gang during the vicious attack.
Gardaí have appealed to anyone who may have witnessed the assault to come forward and no arrests have been made so far in connection with the assault.
Yadav told The Journal that it is “very unfortunate” that the Indian Embassy had to issue the safety advisory.
“This country used to feel very safe, but now things are not that good,” said Yadav.
“The Indian Embassy came to my house and they also reported the incident, and the gardaí came to my house too.
“There are so many other incidents happening and lot of people are being targeted.”
Yadav has called for “concrete measures” to be taken to prevent these incidents and make member of the Indian community “feel safe to walk on the streets”.
Yadav said that he and others like him are “immigrants who are here to work hard”.
“We have left our family in another country and we are here to live peacefully.”
He added that in Ireland, it “feels as though there is no law against these teenagers”.
“More is needed to ensure that these teenagers are going in a good direction.”
He called for more education in school so that teenagers can learn “human values and ethics and empathy” in order to be “a good human being”.
“If they are doing this now, once they grow up, they will keep on doing these kind of incidents if nothing changes.”
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