Thaindian News

Melbourne, June 7 (IANS) In another attack on Indians in Australia, a car belonging to an Indian student was torched in Melbourne Saturday night by suspected drug addicts. While the police have ruled out a racial motive, the student has claimed it was a racial attack.

Vikrant Rajesh Ratan, 22, told police that his car and two other cars belonging to Indians in the apartment complex where he lives were burnt by some drug addicts whom he had refused to give money.

“They asked me for money, but I refused them. Next night they burnt my car because of that,” Ratan told a news channel.

He said there were 40 Indians living in his area and “we are all toppers”.

When told that police had ruled out any racial motive, he said: “They (attackers) only picked on my car. It is racially motivated.”

He said the drug addicts had first tried to unlock the car, and being unable to do do, set it on fire using petrol.

Indian students have been the target of racial attacks in Melbourne and Sydney over the past few weeks, leading to outrage among the Indian diaspora in Australia and in India as well.

In Sydney, hundreds of Indian students took out a massive rally to protest the attacks on the community.

The rally, organised by the Federation of Indian Students Association, saw around 1,000 people marching from Townhall to High Park in Sydney, shouting anti-racism slogans.