A disturbing video has emerged on a social media platform, which shows a group of people thrashing an African-origin man with a steel dustbin. Several instances of racist attacks on Africans in Greater Noida have been reported earlier.
On Monday evening, an angry mob brutally beat up a Nigerian man and roughed up two more near Greater Noida’s Pari Chowk. The mob, which started out as a candle-light march for Manish Khari, a 17-year-old student who allegedly dies of a drug overdose.
After someone claimed that the boy had last been seen with five Nigerian students who lived two doors away, the crowd barged into the house. Khari wasn’t there. But it set off a horrifying rumour: that the Nigerians had eaten up the young man.
The footage, apparently filmed on a mobile phone at the Ansal Plaza in Greater Noida, has been posted on Facebook by the Association of African Students in India.
In the footage, no one tries to help the man or stop the attack.
Fearing attacks the Nigerian youths are staying indoors, and not risking any outing – not even their visit to the campuses – where they are pursuing higher education.
This comes at a time when the Association of African Students in India requested all African students residing in Greater Noida-Uttar Pradesh to remain indoor at their home and abstain from the lectures of Tuesday, March 27, 2017.
African students in Greater Noida say they face prejudice every day and are now living in fear following a mob attack on some members of their community after the mysterious death of a local youth. Following the attack Sushma Swaraj also tweeted on speaking to the chief minister Yogi Adityanath regarding this situation.
“I have asked for a report from Government of Uttar Pradesh about the reported attack on African students in Noida,” EAM Sushma Swaraj had tweeted.
Responding to several tweets from African students based in Greater Noida, Swaraj assured them not to panic as the Government of India is seized of the matte and is taking immediate action in the case.
In the wake of the attacks, police has beefed up security, deploying at least 200 additional police personnel in Greater Noida, especially residential societies with African population.
Kasna SHO, Avnish Dixit said, “Following the scuffle that took place last evening, we have taken all necessary steps to ensure safety of African nationals. The police has kept vigil all night to control the situation.”
Suspected Nigerian students were booked for murder, kidnapping and using drugs; however, they were later released for lack of evidence.
Over 100 locals had earlier protested at the busy junction demanding that all Africans living in residential colonies in Greater Noida be asked to vacate their rented houses immediately.
