28 January,2010 01:02 PM IST | | PTI
In fresh incidents of violence against Indians in Australia, four community youths, including three cabbies, were attacked in two separate incidents in Brisbane, a media report said on Thursday.
"Four more attacks on Indians in Brisbane, Queensland, took place," Sky news reported without giving out any more information about the victims. "Three of them have been directed at cab drivers, one who told how he was punched and dragged from his taxi," it said.
Indian cabbies are believed to be accounting for over 70 per cent of the cab driving jobs thus are said to be more prone to such attacks.
The latest attacks against Indians were 10th in this month. In a separate incident, a 23-year-old pizza delivery youth was bashed up with a cricket bat and robbed while making a delivery in Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Brisbane-based Indian consul SD Singh said that police on Wednesday informed him about the attacks and also arrested one person involved in one of the incident. He said he had no further details of the incidents.
"Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh will reach Brisbane today and will meet community leaders and members of the Queensland police to discuss the recent spate of attacks," Singh said. The meeting is expected to be held tomorrow.
Over 100 incidents of attacks on Indians, particularly students, were reported in 2009 and the attacks have continued this year unabated. The Australian government has given a dossier on these incidents to India which reveals that nearly half of the attackers have been juveniles.
Under pressure from India, Australia has also set up a high-level ministerial working group to comprehensively study the spate of attacks on Indians in that country. The first meeting of the high-level group will take place by the end of this week.
