An Indian man from Kerala was assaulted by teenagers in Australia’s Hobart city in an alleged case of racial abuse. Li Max Joy, a nursing student and part-time taxi driver said the group of five had hurled racial abuses at him such as “you bloody black Indians” and beat him up at a McDonald’s outlet early on Sunday, PTI reported.

The 33-year-old said that the teenagers had been arguing with the McDonald’s staff when he reached the fast food centre, but turned their anger on him when they noticed him. He was admitted to the hospital with deep wounds and later lodged a complaint with the police.

Advertisement

“A big boy in a black T-shirt yelled racial abuses and attacked me without any provocation. I was literally shocked,” Joy told a Malayalam news channel, according to Hindustan Times. “Nobody intervened when I was attacked.”

“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, according to Indian media. Joy has lived in Hobart for the past eight years.

The taxi driver, who hails from Puthuppally in Kerala’s Kottayam district, has sought intervention from the Indian External Affairs Ministry, alleging that Australian authorities were not making serious efforts to bring the accused to justice. The Lok Sabha MP from Kottayam, Jose K Mani, has condemned the incident and said he will approach the External Affairs Ministry for help on Monday.

This is the second such case of an attack on an Indian in Australia in a week. Last Sunday, Tomy Kalathoor Matthew, a priest from Kerala, was stabbed inside a church in Melbourne while leading a mass. The Italian assailant, who was later arrested, is believed to have said Mathew could not conduct the mass because he must be a Hindu or Muslim because he was from India. The priest had suffered injuries to his neck.