Another Indian student attacked in Oz

Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, Jun 8(PTI) A 23-year-old Indian student was
beaten up for the second time in a fortnight by a group of
youths here, the 11th person from the community to be
assaulted within a space of a month in Australia.

Kamal Jit was found unconscious and bleeding by
another Indian student in western suburb of the city Sunday.

It was the second attack in two weeks on Jit, who was
previously pelted with eggs by several masked men after
getting off a late night train at St Albans station in western
suburb.

"It is very bad because we pay a lot of money and we
are living far away from our country and from our families and
we are without protection," Jit was quoted as saying in 'The
Age' newspaper Monday.

As he walked home at about 1:40 am local time Sunday,
Jit said, he noticed three men acting suspiciously in a car
and he tried to avoid them.

He then saw two men come out of it near a pizza shop,
while another waited in a car.

"The two guys pushed me to the ground and I was hit on
the head, I think with a steel rod," Jit said.

Jit, who required seven stitches after the blow to his
head, said he did not want to live in the suburb any longer.

Jit's friends said the attack was the sixth or seventh
over the past week on the Indian students, and called for
extra police at the suburb of St Albans station at night.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman was quoted by the
newspaper as saying that extra police, increased surveillance
and mobile patrols had been deployed around train stations.

The Australian Government had last week announced
setting up of a Task Force headed by the National Security
Adviser to deal with such violence.

Hundreds of Indian students Sunday rallied in Sydney
to protest against the attacks.

Apart from Indians, there were students from other
countries at the rally, who voiced their concerns about the
racial violence and demanded police to be alert to prevent
such incidents from happening again.

Just ahead of the rally, another youth from the
community complained about his newly-bought car being torched
outside his home here. PTI