Three Men in Their 20s Assaulted by Three Including a White Man
Perpetrators Remain Unidentified...Police Investigation Ongoing
In downtown Sydney, Australia, three East Asian men, including a Korean, were subjected to an indiscriminate hammer attack.
According to local media outlets such as Sky News Australia on the 20th, at around 3 a.m. on the 18th, three East Asian men in their 20s were assaulted by three unidentified men in front of a convenience store near the intersection of Liverpool Street and Pitt Street in downtown Sydney. The attackers are reported to have approached the victims as they were walking down the street, picked a fight, and then suddenly started throwing punches.
At around 3 a.m. on the 18th, three East Asian men in their 20s were assaulted by three unidentified men in downtown Sydney, Australia. Screenshot from social media.
Video footage of the assault is rapidly spreading through social media. In the video, the attackers can be seen punching the victims in the face and kicking them after they fall to the ground. One of the group then takes a hammer out of a bag and is seen chasing after the victims and swinging it at them. The victims did not fight back against the attackers. They raised their hands in an attempt to defuse the situation, but it was no use.
A witness at the scene wrote on Instagram, "I heard the attacker say, 'Do you want to fight my friend?' I think one of the victims didn't speak English and, without understanding what it meant, just answered, 'Yeah'." The witness added that this was when the situation started to deteriorate. The witness further wrote, "The attackers were a white man and a Middle Eastern man."
Police were dispatched to the scene after receiving a report, but the assailants had already fled. The three victims reportedly received first aid from paramedics before being transported to a hospital. At one point it was reported that all three victims were Korean, but it has since been confirmed that they were one Korean and two Thai nationals. Their ages are 23, 28, and 29.
The Korean victim has been identified as Mr. Lee, who has been staying in Australia for eight months on a working holiday visa. In an interview with a local media outlet, he explained that the attack occurred while he was on his way home after a staff gathering with two Thai colleagues who work at the same restaurant. One of the victims also posted on his Instagram account, writing, "Two days ago, I was nearly beaten to death with a hammer." The police are pursuing the suspects through an ongoing investigation.
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