A Pakistani student was brutally attacked by a group of men and women in Newscastle, Australia.
Abdullah Qaiser, 21, had his nose smashed by a man wearing a knuckle duster after his car was stopped at the University of Newcastle’s Callaghan campus, according to the Newcastle Herald.
The 21-year-old was driving to the library when he saw six or seven people standing on the road blocking his path near the university’s medical science building.
Before he knew it, according to the report, a woman had reached through the passenger door trying to grab his mobile phone and a man had pulled open the driver’s side door and was yelling: “Go back to your country, you don’t belong here”.
The man then punched Qaiser with a hand wrapped in a knuckle duster, leaving him with a broken nose that will likely require surgery to repair it in the coming days.
The group fled the scene afterwards and took Qaiser’s mobile phone.
Speaking to the Newcastle Herald, Qaiser said he came to Newcastle from Pakistan last year to study in a secure environment.
“I came over here because I believed it was pretty secure,” he said.
“I’m from Pakistan, you know what’s happening in Pakistan, people come here to get a better education, to be a bit secure. So when this kind of thing happens, it’s pretty sad.”
The 21-year-old farther said he blacked out briefly following the attack but then drove to the university gym where staff administered first aid and called police, campus security and an ambulance.
“I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. The blood was flowing out of my nose,” he said.
“I had no option but to stop my car [when he saw the group on the road]. I was just thinking they were students just making fun,” he added.
Police told the Herald that investigators were reviewing CCTV footage from the campus grounds.
Further, they said they did not believe the attack was racially motivated.
Qaiser agreed and said the incident turned racial when his attacker saw him up close. “I was in the car, how would they know I was a brown person in the car? It could have been anybody,” he said.
