In the second attack in two days on Indians in Australia,a 25-year-old taxi driver was abused and punched by his passengers,one of whom spat on him,an assault described as opportunistic and not racially motivated by the police.
In another incident,three Indians were among a group of six South Asians who were denied entry by a bar here in what is being described by them as a case of racism.
The taxi driver,who was not identified,had bruises on his body and swelling on the face after he was roughed up by four male passengers in Ballarat,110 km west of here,just before midnight on Friday,the police said. The Ballarat police constables dismissal of the attack on the taxi driver as not racial came even as a top Victorian police official made a candid admission that there were racists in Melbourne.
In the latest assault,the police in a statement said,The four became abusive towards the Indian driver while he was driving and started assaulting him,with one of the passengers in the rear seat even spitting on him.
As the car pulled over,two of the four passengers tried to flee with the Indian driver giving them a chase. However,the third passenger punched him to the ground.