India: Banal Racism of Everyday - Lynch Mob Attacks on Three Africans in Delhi's Metro

‘They kept calling us Nigerians… took turns to hit us’

Taking serious note of the attack on three students of African origin at the Rajiv Chowk metro station in New Delhi last Sunday, the ambassadors of Gabon and Burkina Faso have written to the Ministry of External Affairs “expressing deep concern” and urging the government to “work in close cooperation with police for a fair investigation”.

Desire Koumba, Gabon’s ambassador to India, confirmed that he and his Burkina Faso counterpart Idriss Raoua Ouedraogo had written to the MEA expressing concern over the incident.

Last Sunday, the three youths — Mapaga (22) and Yohan (22) from Gabon and Guira (20) from Burkina Faso — were nearly lynched by a mob at the Rajiv Chowk metro station in the presence of a policeman. Cornered and assaulted inside a police booth, they escaped with serious injuries on the head and arms. Mapaga was also bitten on the leg while they were being attacked with rods, glass shards, even tables.

Not one of their assailants has been arrested so far though video clips of the attack have gone viral on YouTube. Only a case of rioting, causing hurt and damage to public property has been registered by police. [. . .]

http://youtu.be/0XHBOE93Oks
See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/they-kept-calling-us-nigerians-took-turns-to-hit-us/99/