Cops are hunting for four people who allegedly stalked, harassed and beat up a group of Taiwanese nationals because of their ethnicity.
Wu Aiting was walking with three friends, aged in their early 20s, when they were attacked by four people, two men and two women, at Brisbane’s Southbank precinct on Monday night.
Ms Aiting said the group was following them along the Brisbane River, calling out racial slurs, throwing rocks and asking them to fight.
A video of the harassment was posted to Instagram by one of the victims.
‘We got beaten up just because we are Asians,’ the caption read.
Wu Aiting (front, centre) was walking with three friends, aged in their early 20s, when they were attacked by four people, two women and two men, in Southbank on Monday night
Ms Aiting told 7News that she and her friends tried to walk away but could not manage to escape the alleged assailants who were in hot pursuit.
‘We didn’t say anything and then they start yelling at us, calling us Chinese names,’ she said.
‘When they were talking behind us it sounded like [the] devil, it was really scary.’
In the video, one of the attackers can be heard provoking one of Ms Aiting’s male friends to fight him. He repeatedly declines before being dragged to the ground.
Two of Ms Aiting’s friends were hurt in the attack, with one woman being hit in the nose and the other in the eye.
When Ms Aiting tried helping her friend off the ground she said that she was also ‘beaten on the head’ by the group.
The friend hit in the eye could not open it after the attackers fled the scene and had his glasses broken, she added.
No weapons were used in the attack.
Footage of the attack was posted to Instagram by one of the victims and has since gone viral in Taiwan
Footage of the incident has gone viral in Taiwan and was shown on several news sites and television stations.
Wayne Ko from the Queensland Federation of Taiwanese Associations said the video was particularly concerning for people from Taiwan.
‘[The] Taiwanese community is losing confidence in the QLD police,’ he said.
Officers are now actively looking for the attackers and have said that they are following all leads, reviewing CCTV and speaking with witnesses.
Police said that they consider the case a priority.
