JOIN USSix African nationals and two policemen were beaten up by a group of locals at Byrathi, off Hennur Road, in east Bengaluru on Monday night.
The attack on the Africans is said to be a fallout of their ‘behaviour’ which had enraged the residents.
The police have heightened security in the area which is home to several hundred students from various African nations. Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar and DCP (North East) Vikash Kumar Vikash counselled the injured Africans who were gripped by fear and wanted to leave the country.
While it is said that it was a racial attack, the police were tight-lipped about the incident. Police Commissioner M N Reddi said: “There was pushing and jostling by a mob... but no assault.” The jurisdictional DCP said the victims have not lodged a complaint.
According to police sources, on Monday night, a group of local youths pelted stones at an African national who was speeding his motorcycle near the residence of local MLA Byrathi Basavaraj. A few minutes later, the group hurled stones at a car in which four Africans were returning home.
Later, the same group chased and attacked three African nationals — John, his sister and her friend who were walking home after attending a party. John managed to get inside a fellow African’s house while his sister and her friend rushed to safety.
The group dragged John and three other African nationals out of the house and attacked them with stones. John and a friend suffered head injuries and were rushed to nearby Avhieta Hospital, the sources said.
Some residents came to the rescue of the Africans. But the group warned them against informing police. A while later, when the police reached the spot, the group assaulted and injured two policemen. The attackers fled the spot by the time reinforcement arrived.
The residents had made several complaints in the past to the police that foreign nationals indulge in obscene acts in public.
They had also complained that they consume liquor in public and create nuisance. The local police had not acted on these complaints and this had enraged the locals. Minor skirmishes between locals and foreigners are a regular feature in the locality, police sources said.