Two fresh assaults on Indians in Oz, Minister to visit India

Natasha Chaku

Melbourne, July 19 (PTI) Two fresh cases of assault on
Indians have been reported in Australia, with three students
attacked in two separate incidents, even as the Immigration
Minister prepared to leave for India to reassure that his
country is a safe destination for students and "not racist".

Two students were injured outside a hotel in Sydney
last week in what appeared to be a petty street crime, apart
from a separate incident surfacing from Adelaide.

New South Wales Police official Brian Wyver said the
two men in Sydney suffered minor injuries in a scuffle outside
a hotel in Wollongong on Friday.

"When the police arrived they couldn't locate anyone
there... They later found that two people had been taken to
Wollongong Hospital by a friend," Wyver was quoted as saying
by the 'Herald Sun'.

"They attended the hospital and there appears there
has been some sort of fight outside the hotel. They didn't
want any action in relation to that fight, they weren't badly
injured so police have taken a report," he said.

In another case, an Indian student was attacked in
Adelaide after a group of four drunken localites attacked him.

The events came as Immigration Minister Chris Evans
prepared to leave for New Delhi to reassure Indians of their
safety Down Under.

Evans said Australia remains a safe destination for
students and welcomed Indians to work and study in the
country.

Evans, who will meet Minister for Overseas Indian
Affairs Vayalar Ravi and other officials during his visit,
said the government wanted to counter negative publicity on
the sub-continent about the recent wave of attacks against
Indian students in Australian cities.

"There's been a lot of concern inside India and
there's been, I think, some fairly hysterical reporting of
what's occurred," he said.

"Part of what I intend to do on this visit is to try
and reassure Indians that we're a safe place to study, that
we're a multicultural society and we don't have racist
attitudes to people," he told Sky News.

He said so far there has been no evidence of a decline
in Indian student applications and recent figures have shown
that the demand from students in India has continued to be
strong and, in fact, grew a little bit in June.

Evans trip follows a visit by a delegation of police
and officials to Indian cities earlier this month delivering
similar safety assurances. PTI NC
RAI
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