Police arrest two boys over ‘coronavirus racist assault’

LONDON: Two boys have been arrested on suspicion of racially assaulting a Singaporean man following the coronavirus outbreak.

The suspects, aged 15 and 16, were held for alleged racially aggravated assault following the incident in central London on February 24, the Metropolitan Police said. They have since been released under investigation.

Victim Jonathan Mok wrote on Facebook that he was set upon by a group of men and a woman as he walked along Oxford Street towards Tottenham Court Road.

Violence erupted after the group passed the 23-year-old, who has been studying in the capital for two years, and one made a remark about coronavirus, he said. In his account of the assault, Mok described how, as he turned to face the group, one of the men said: “Don’t you dare look at me”, before launching an attack.

The student said: “All of a sudden, the first punch was swung at my face and took me by surprise. When I was still shocked by the first hit, the guy delivered the second sucker punch. By then, a few passers-by had stopped and one of them tried to reason with them that four on one was not fair.

“The attacker’s friend tried to swing a kick at me as I was explaining to the passer-by that I hadn’t done anything at all. I tried to react in self-defence but couldn’t do anything substantial because I was still recovering from a broken finger in my master hand.

“The guy who tried to kick me then said ‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country’, before swinging another sucker punch at me, which resulted in my face exploding with blood (from my nose), where the blood was splattered all across the pavement.”

Police are still looking for two other people in connection with the incident. Any witnesses are asked to contact police.