Chinese student ‘target of racist abuse over virus’
A CHINESE student at Cardiff University claims he has been the target of racist and xenophobic abuse because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Robin Zhang, 22, was walking home from university with a friend when a group of strangers began publicly mocked him on St Mary’s Street, Cardiff.
He said that four young men approached him shouting “Hey! #coronavirus!” followed by a gesture of covering their mouthes with their clothes.
The virus, which has been confirmed in eight people in the UK so far, has killed more than 800 people and infected 34,000 people globally.
Asian communities across the country are reporting facing verbal and physical abuse in the aftermath of first recorded cases of virus in Britain.
Robin, who has lived in Cardiff for five months as part of his studies, has never experienced anything like this before in Wales.
Robin said: “They were making fun of me and making jokes but it’s really not right. I know it’s been happening (racist abuse), but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly to me. I’ve seen some of the posts back home in China and that some students have been attacked.”
Robin said coronavirus is especially stressful for Chinese students because for most, their families are still living in China.
“People should be supporting rather than saying abusive things like that,” added Robin. “I feel like some people are using this to target Chinese people. Everything to do with China is negative is what they’re expressing on social media.
A Cardiff University spokesman said: “We take any form of racial harassment, violence or abuse within our community very seriously.
“Action will be taken against anyone violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.”