Gardaí investigating reported attack against child in Waterford
Gardaí are investigating the incident.
Gardaí are investigating a reported attack on a child in Waterford City. The alleged assault is understood to have occurred on Monday evening, August 6.
According to the Irish Daily Star, the little girl was playing outside her home with her friends in Kilbarry when several boys, aged between 12 and 14 began shouting racist slurs at her, twisted her hair and punched her neck. One boy is said to have pushed a bicycle wheel into her.
The child, born and raised in Waterford, was told to 'go back to India'. The incident has deeply disturbed her, her friends and her family, who have been living and working in Ireland for nearly a decade.
In the past month there have been a number of attacks against people of Indian descent. In Dublin, two men were attacked in separate incidents. One man, a taxi driver, was attacked by two young men with a bottle and told 'go back to your own country'.
In Tallaght, a tech worker was stripped and assaulted by a gang of men after being falsely accused of impropriety.
These racist attacks have prompted the Ireland India Council to wrote to the Minister of Justice Jim Callaghan and Tánaiste Simon Harris to raise awareness of the uptick in attacks. The Council have called for urgent action against these incidents by establishing a taskforce on hate crime and youth violence. They have requested legislation to hold parents responsible both “financially and criminally” for repeated violent actions of minors in their care.
Waterford News and Star spoke to Senthil Ramaswamy, founder of Waterford Tamil Sangam and a member in the Waterford New Communities Network, about the incidents. Senthil said that tensions 'were high' and that there was a lack of communication with the figures in government over these attacks: "This has been happening and we've had no reply." Senthil worried that these incidents could scare people away from visiting Ireland, whether to visit or to live and work, for fear of being targeted.
The Embassy of India recently issued a statement warning people of Indian descent to take 'reasonable precautions for their personal safety' and to 'avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours.'
