‘ASIAN HATE’ ATTACK

7-Eleven assault

A Midtown 7-Eleven worker became the city’s latest suspected victim of an anti-Asian crime — with an attacker allegedly spewing, “You Chinese motherf--ker!” as he punched the clerk, police said Sunday.

The 26-year-old Asian victim was working at the convenience store at Eighth Avenue and West 39th Street shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday when his attacker stormed in without a mask, yelled the racial slur and slugged him, cops said.

Cops said the victim, who suffered a cut under his left eye, had previously confronted the suspect after he allegedly tried to steal merchandise.

Police initially said the attack was not being classified as a bias crime because the assault was over “a previous larceny and dispute.”

But the department said later Sunday that it was being investigated as a bias crime. There were no arrests. The city has been hit by a series of anti-Asian attacks in recent weeks, forcing the NYPD to redeploy some cops to cut down on the crimes.

Last week, a 65-year-old Asian woman was randomly attacked on West 43rd Street near Times Square, in a brutal caught-on-video assault

— as bystanders did nothing.

Dozens of protesters gathered in Times Square on Sunday afternoon to condemn the recent spike in attacks.

“We need the whole country, all our allies, to know what we’ve been going through,” Jack Liang, co-organizer of the “Times Square Take Over” rally, told about 100 demonstrators.

“Stop attacking our elders, stop attacking our sisters,” said Liang, of Brooklyn. “I’m right here. Fight me. Leave our elders alone.”

Billboards at the protest flashed #StopAsianHate and StopAsianHate.org messages during the afternoon gathering, while signs carried by the crowd read, “We belong here” and “Racism is the deadliest virus.”

Demonstrators then marched to the West 43rd Street building where Vilma Kari, a 65-year-old Filipino woman, was kicked and beaten last week as security guards watched from inside the safety of the Midtown office building.

“We’re letting the world know we are strong and united, and we are looking to advocate change,” Oliver Pras, a co-organizer of the rally, told the crowd.

He cited a “200 percent uptick in violence against Asians since the beginning of the pandemic, 60 percent against women.”