當地警方接到最少六個報案。其中一個是兩個亞裔人被四五個人辱罵和襲擊。
另外有數名受害者﹐其中三個是學生﹐被人以拳頭毆打﹐腳踢﹐吐口水﹐被喝令『帶病者滾回你們的國家』。
又有一名來自中國的大學生被四個二十歲左右的年輕人在街上大聲辱罵﹐用刀恐嚇及拿去他的帽子。
還有亞裔的士司機被兩個男乘客襲擊。35歲受襲者先被問他來自那裡﹐是否帶病﹐然後被毆打和腳踢。
其余的案件﹐都牽涉華僑人士﹐但則屬較輕微﹐較低的辱罵言語﹐例如『肺炎帶病者』等。
倫敦警方亦拘捕了兩個襲擊一名來自新加波的學生。
In one incident on
Sidwell Street four or five men abused and assaulted two Asian men
At least six reports
of coronavirus-related attacks have been received by Devon and Cornwall Police.
People from Chinese
and Asian backgrounds in Exeter have been assaulted and verbally abused by
groups of men.
Victims, three of
them students, have been punched, kicked, spat on and told to "go back to
your own country - you must have coronavirus".
The force said it was
treating the attacks as hate crimes.
Three attacks
happened within 24 hours earlier this week.
On Wednesday, a
19-year-old university student from China was approached by four men, thought
to be in their 20s, on Castle Street.
They shouted abuse
before assaulting him, stealing his cap and threatening him with a knife.
Police are also
investigating an attack on two Asian men by a group of four or five men at
around 02:45 GMT on Sidwell Street on Friday.
Members of the group
shouted at the pair, accusing them of having coronavirus, before one of them
was punched.
Another incident
involved an attack on an Asian taxi driver by two male passengers at 00:30 on
Sunday on New North Road.
The 35-year-old
victim was taunted with questions about where he was from and whether he had
coronavirus before being punched and kicked.
Police say other
incidents involved "lower-level verbal abuse" including shouting
"corona" and "coronavirus carrier" at Chinese people.
Sgt Emma
Storey-Barrett said police had linked up with Exeter University to help
students "feel supported and safe".
In London, two
teenagers were arrested for an attack on a student from Singapore.
