Police are hunting a gang of racist thugs who hurled rubbish and beat up a young South Korean woman in Britain’s busiest shopping street.
The 22-year-old victim claims onlookers in Oxford Street in central London filmed the assault on their mobile phones despite her screaming for help.
She said she suffered swelling and bruises after being attacked by ten youths at about 5.40pm on Remembrance Sunday (Nov 11).
The illustration and animation student at Canterbury University, who did not want to be named, said she was visiting London with a friend when a group of strangers starting throwing rubbish at her.
She said: “I turned around and told them to stop. Then this black girl approached me saying, ‘Oh you speak English? You alright?’.
The student said one of the group then pushed her to the ground and added: “After falling around ten people came up to me and started beating me up.
“I tried to stand back up but a girl pushed me to the floor again and started punching me in the face.
“They also started kicking me on the floor. They all seemed like teenagers, but they were all so much taller than me.
“One of the tallest guys struck me down and carried on punching my face.
“I remember shouting ‘this is the 21st century, stop being racists’ and I kept screaming as there was not much I could do while I was getting beaten up by a group of ten people.”
Today (Fri) she appealed for witnesses to come forward to police.
She said: “I would like to find witnesses who can testify to what happened – and it would be very helpful if any member of the public had happened to make a recording of the incident, perhaps on their phone or tablet.
“If anyone out there has something like this, please do not hesitate to send the video to police.”
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The 22-year-old woman reported how she had rubbish thrown at her by a group of people before being subjected to a physical assault on Oxford Street junction with Winsley Street last month near Marks and Spencers.
“She received minor injuries as a result of the attack on the afternoon of Sunday, 11 November around 5.40pm.
“Police received an online report of the incident at 10.35pm on the same day – and are treating it as a potentially racially aggravated assault due to comments that were reportedly made to the victim.
“The suspects – who may have been students – were reported to have been seen heading towards McDonalds nearby following the incident.”
Investigating officer PC Anton Brown said: “We really need the public’s help in this case so that we can progress our enquiries.
“We are appealing to anyone who witnessed what happened and urging them to come forward. However small the piece of information, it could prove vital to us.”
A police spokesman said enquiries continued and no arrests had been made.
By Berny Torre
