Another race attack on Chinese
Two Chinese men tell of beating from youths in Cork after barrage of vile slurs about coronavirus
JUST days after shocking footage emerged of a Chinese woman being pushed into a canal, two Chinese men have spoken out about an attack they suffered at the hands of racist youths.
Gardaí are investigating the alleged racist attack on Martin Hong and Arthur Ma, who were set upon in Cork after they confronted youths who targeted them with ‘Chinese virus’ slurs.
One of the two victims – who said they now live in fear – lost consciousness and had a tooth knocked out in the vile assault.
AN alleged racist attack on two Chinese men by a group of youths is being investigated by gardaí.
The incident in Cork has emerged just days after a Chinese woman was pushed into the Royal Canal in Dublin when she confronted a group of teenagers over alleged racial slurs.
The latest shocking act of violence that’s believed to be racially motivated resulted in one of the Chinese men being knocked unconscious and losing a tooth.
He also suffered black eyes and his friend sustained bad bruising after he was punched in the head, face and neck.
The two men are now so traumatised that they will only leave their house together because the teens who attack them live in the area.
The men said that the teens first made comments about Covid-19 being a ‘Chinese virus’.
This bears similar hallmarks to the alleged assault on Xuedan ‘Shelley’ Xiong, a Chinese woman in her 40s, as she was also the target of slurs about Chinese people and the coronavirus before being physically assaulted.
One of the alleged victims, Martin Hong, told RTÉ Radio 1’s News At One yesterday that he and his housemate, Arthur Ma, both in their early 20s, were on Pearse Road in Ballyphehane on Cork’s south side, when they were set upon at about 8pm on Saturday, August 8.
They had been on their way to do some shopping when the group of teenagers allegedly started calling them names, he said.
‘They were making fun of us but when we asked them to repeat what they were saying, they laughed at us and made fun of us,’ Mr Ma said.
The boys also raised their middle fingers at them. ‘My friend tried to film it because we did not want to get into any physical contact with them,’ Mr Ma added.
‘‘We asked them to repeat what they said. They said we were racist and were saying bad things about Ireland… they tried to portray themselves as the victims. I stepped forward to try to reason with them and one of them just punched me. Both of my eyes got very severely bruised. I got punched in the eye and the nose, my nose was bleeding. I lost one of my teeth and, for one or two minutes, I lost consciousness when I fell to the ground,’ he said.
According to Mr Hong, another member of the group attacked Mr Ma before ‘a very nice old lady’ called the gardaí.
‘It happened around my home so I don’t dare to go out from my home. I went out for some shopping yesterday and a teenager said “hi” to me and I was afraid to reply. Before now, all the racial things were verbal – this is the first time I got physically attacked,’ Mr Hong said.
The two injured men were taken to Cork University Hospital where they waited seven hours for treatment and were kept overnight before being discharged.
Mr Hong said that he has since gone to the hospital and dental clinic three times. The dentist, who replaced his missing tooth, is waiting to see if the damaged area becomes infected.
Mr Ma said he was punched in the back of the head, on his neck and on both eyes. ‘It happened almost a week ago and the bruises are still here. I see them every morning but mostly I feel I have been traumatised,’ he said.
‘Now we go shopping, we go together. If there is a crowd of teenagers we still have the fear.’
However, despite the horrific ordeal, Mr Ma said that he still has a positive view of Ireland.
‘Generally speaking, I love this country. I tell every friend I love this country. Those kinds of people, they are everywhere, there are always some lovely people as well like the lady who stopped the teenagers,’ he said.
He said that he has seen a rise in racist abuse since the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this year, a man, who was not drunk, told him to get out of a restaurant, he revealed. ‘I think it was all down to me being Chinese,’ he said.
Gardaí at Togher station are following a definite line of inquiry.
‘The first time I was physically attacked’