The director of an anti-racism group has condemned the alleged racially motivated attack on three young Afghan men living in Ireland.
The three young men were assaulted by a gang of five people in Rathfarnham on Thursday evening. The men were punched in the face, kicked and beaten unconscious in an apparent racist attack.
“I find this news both frightening and shocking, but unfortunately also unsurprising,” said Director of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) Shane O’Curry.
“The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) has for some time been warning that it is only a matter of time before a premeditated and planned hate crime as serious as this is carried out by people who draw justification for such barbarity from Islamophobic and racist sentiment,” said O’Curry.
O’Curry said he hoped Gardaí (police force of Ireland) would use the resources it has its disposal to “pursue the attackers with the fullest rigour and bring these people to justice”.
“Unfortunately our research suggests that this may not be the case. Respondents to the iReport.ie racist incident reporting system regularly complain about Gardaí not taking racist incidents seriously, and while iReport.ie recorded 137 hate crimes in 2014, Gardaí recorded just 45.”
O’Curry urged the new government to tackle hate crime and give Gardaí and courts the resources to deal with it.
“An inclusive republic means a society that is able to protect all within it so that they can enjoy life without fear,” he said.
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