Croydon 'Hate Crime' Attack: Six Arrests after Iranian Teenager Left in Critical Condition
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Six people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after an Iranian boy was assaulted and knocked unconscious in Croydon, a large town in south London, in a “brutal” suspected hate crime.
The boy was with two friends late on Friday night at a bus stop in Croydon, when he was approached by a group of about eight people, who demanded to know where he was from. After replying that he was seeking asylum, the gang chased him and launched their attack.
The teenager, a Kurdish Iranian aged 17, was left lying on the ground unconscious after receiving repeated blows to the head. Scotland Yard said he suffered a fractured skull and blood clot on the brain and on Sunday was said to be in a serious but stable condition. The two other youths suffered minor injuries.
Scotland Yard on Sunday said four men and two women in their 20s were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder late on Saturday at addresses in Croydon.
Investigating officer Kris Blamires, from Croydon CID, described the incident as a “brutal attack”.
“He has sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers,” he said. “A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault.”
Those arrested were a 24-year-old man, a 24-year-old woman, three 20-year-old men and a 20-year-old woman, the Guardian reported.
The attack prompted a wave of condemnation, with Britain’s Conservative minister Gavin Barwell, Croydon Central’s MP, describing the attackers as “scum”.
He said: “I think most people in Croydon will be as appalled as I am... it’s an appalling crime and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice.”
He added that Croydon was a diverse community and generally had “very good relations between people of different backgrounds”.
The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, condemned the attack and suggested the Conservatives had failed to get to grips with hate crimes.
“Sadly, this is not an isolated incident but part of a sustained increase in hate crimes that this Tory government is yet to offer any effective response to,” she said.
“With rightwing politicians across the world scapegoating migrants, refugees and others for their economic problems, we are seeing a deeply worrying rise in the politics of hate. We must make clear that there is no place for anti-foreigner myths, racism and hate in our society.”
A London ambulance service spokeswoman said: “We were called at 11.41pm on Friday to reports of an assault on Shrublands Avenue, Croydon. We sent an ambulance crew, a senior paramedic in a car and an incident response officer to the scene. We treated a teenager for serious head injuries and he was taken to a major trauma center as a priority.” The teenager’s condition has since been updated to “serious but stable”.
