Assaults prompt police helpline

Authorities in Australia have launched a telephone helpline for Indian students who have been the target of a wave of violent attacks in Melbourne.

Victoria state police said the helpline, which has operators who speak both Hindi and English, had been established after consultation with the local Indian community.

It follows a series of assaults on students from the sub-continent in Australia's second largest city, which the Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) says were at least partially racially motivated.

"Discrimination is always there," FISA president Amit Menghani told AFP.

"Indian students are being targeted and attacked. The level of crime is increasing and it's a concern for the student community."

Police estimate Indians make up 30 per cent of robbery victims in Melbourne's western suburbs and set up a community liaison group in January to examine the issue after an armed robbery in a convenience store left an Indian man in a coma.

They have also boosted numbers on a robbery taskforce in Melbourne's western suburbs and are considering sending officers to Indian cities to educate Australia-bound students about how to minimise the risk being attacked.

But police have played down any racial motive for the attacks, saying the Indian students, who often work late shifts to support their studies, were often in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"While Victoria Police acknowledges the Indian community are over-represented as victims, there is no evidence to support Indians are targeted or vilified because of their ethnicity," Inspector Scott Mahony said at the launch of the community liaison group in January.

"Sometimes, it is just a combination of timing and chance.

"A number of offenders are opportunists who take advantage of time, circumstances and opportunity. An example of this is targeting people when they are alone, particularly late at night."

Mahony angered Indian students in February, when he suggested they should not talk loudly in their native language in public or travel around with expensive items such as MP3 players on display.

Menghani said the comments implied Indian students brought the attacks upon themselves and accused police of failing to do enough to curb the assaults.

He was doubtful the helpline would improve the situation.

"It's too little too late," he said. "If someone calls the helpline it means that they've already been attacked.

"If they were really serious they would do something about it when it occurred. The attacks are not just happening in one suburb now, it's all around Melbourne and they're not doing anything about it."

He said Indian students were seen as easy targets for thieves because "we're humble people and we don't carry any weapons".

Menghani predicted Indians would look at studying elsewhere if the attacks continued.

- nz.yahoo.com