Six-year-old Indian girl beaten, hit in private parts in Ireland racist attack

Waterford (TIP): A six-year-old girl of Indian origin was brutally assaulted by a group of boys outside her home in Waterford, Ireland, while they shouted racist slurs, including, “Go back to India.” The attackers also struck her in the private parts, marking the first reported racist assault on an Indian child in Ireland.
The incident occurred on Monday evening, August 4, while the girl was playing outside her home with friends. According to her mother, the attackers included an eight-year-old girl and several boys between the ages of 12 and 14. The mother had been watching her daughter play but briefly went inside to feed her 10-month-old son.
“I told her I would be back in a second after feeding the baby,” the mother told The Irish Mirror. However, within minutes, her daughter returned home, visibly distressed. “She was very upset, she started crying. She couldn’t even talk, she was so scared,” the mother said.
One of the girl’s friends later revealed that the older boys had hit her with a bicycle on her private parts and punched her in the face. “She told me five of them punched her in the face. One of the boys pushed the bicycle wheel onto her private parts and it was really sore. They said the F word and ‘Dirty Indian, go back to India,'” the mother said. The girl also reported being punched in the neck and having her hair twisted.
The mother, a nurse who has lived in Ireland for eight years and recently became an Irish citizen, said her daughter is now too afraid to play outside. “We no longer feel safe here, even right in front of our own home. It doesn’t feel like she can play without fear,” she said.
Heartbroken, the mother added, “I feel so sad for her. I could not protect her. I never expected such an incident would happen. I thought she would be safe here.”
Though she reported the attack to the Garda (Irish police), the mother said she does not seek punishment for the boys, but hopes they receive counselling and guidance. “I don’t know how the government will address this. We came here to fill a labour gap, we are professionals, we have all the certificates,” she said.
The attack is part of a disturbing rise in racist violence against Indians in Ireland. Last month, a 40-year-old Indian man was brutally beaten and stripped in public by a teenage gang in Tallaght, a Dublin suburb. Since July 19, at least three attacks on Indian-origin individuals have been reported in Dublin, raising serious concerns within the Indian community. (NIE)