In a fresh incident against Indians, a group of Australians racially abused community members coming out from a Kabaddi match and damaged their car here, prompting them to retaliate.
The incident took place at a carpark outside Meadowglen International Athletics Stadium in Epping when a local skateboarder damaged the rear window of a car belonging to an Indian.
The skateboarder also used abusive language against some Indians who were leaving the stadium where a Kabaddi match had ended on Sunday night.
“Associates of the person, whose car was damaged, came to his assistance. Two men were assaulted and hit with sticks in the brawl. These two injured men were from the group outside who had allegedly started to verbally abuse the people from the vehicle,” police said in a statement.
The two Australians-aged 25 and 42-were taken to Northern Hospital with minor injuries, they said. However, no arrests have been made and the incident was being investigated, the police told PTI.
Around 30 Indian students were attacked in various cities from June to August. Last month, three Indians were “brutally bashed” by a group of around 70 youth while playing here.
“A lot of people were leaving, the presentations were on at the time. I spoke to one of the boys who was there and he said a guy had smashed the rear window of a car that was leaving,” Councillor from the City of Darebin Tim Singh, who was present at the medal presentations ceremony for Kabaddi tournament, was quoted as saying by the media.
Mr. Singh said that the guy also made some racial comments following which the clash broke out between the two groups.
Meanwhile, an another report quoted police officer Mark Doney as saying that the incident occurred when contestants of the team began to leave the venue.
“One of the youths there tried to get in the way of the cars and yelled out a bit of abuse at people. I think he got his just dessert by the occupants of the vehicle after he smashed the window of their car. Obviously, push has come to shove and he smashed the panel of the side window of the car with the skateboard. It has escalated from there as some of his mates have come down the skatepark. A couple more were assaulted,” he said.
Inspector Doney said the injured men hadn’t pressed charges. “We don’t have a complaint of assault from them,” he said.
Last week, a 28-year-old Indian student was attacked with a “plank of wood or a baseball bat” by two men at Keilor Plains train station which left him with 20 stitches on his head.
