In yet another attack targeting Indians in Australia, a 28-year-old man from the community was beaten up by a group of locals on a Sydney beach, prompting police to arrest one of the assailants.
The Indian, a permanent resident, was assaulted on Coogee Beach in Sydney yesterday, authorities said on Tuesday .
The New South Wales Police arrested a person in connection with the attack and charged him with assault "occasioning actual bodily harm and affray," they said in a statement.
A court today granted the arrested person bail with conditions. The matter is listed to come up before the court again on February 24.
Investigations are going on regarding any other individuals who may have been involved in the incident, the statement said, adding the victim is being kept informed of developments by the New South Wales police.
The victim, who refused to be named apparently due to safety reasons, told PTI that he was kicked and punched by a group of assailants. He said he had been living in Australia for the past 11 years and had never experienced such a thing before. Police arrived 40 minutes after the incident and caught one person, he said.
While the man did not receive any external wounds, he said he was having severe pain in his neck, back and head.
Terming the unabated attacks on Indians in Australia as a "cause of great concern", Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Tuesday said the confidence of the Indian community about living in Australia is "shaken" and there was a need to restore it.
"We have taken these reports very seriously given the fact that has been growing incidents of attacks against persons belonging to the Indian community in Australia...
"Suffice to say that all these attacks have been a cause of great concern to us. We have been in close touch with the Australian government about this," she said on the sidelines of a meeting here.
The Foreign Secretary said the government will wait for the full facts of these assaults.
"Obviously the climate of confidence that the Indian community has about living in Australia is shaken by all these and we need to restore that confidence....We will be in touch with the Australian government continuously on this," Rao said. PTI
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