65-year-old Asian-origin woman punched, kicked & ‘racially abused’ on her way to church in NYC

An unknown man who attacked the woman is said to have yelled ‘F*** you, you don’t belong here’. Footage also shows eyewitnesses did nothing to help her.

Screenshot of CCTV footage widely shared on social media, showing a man attacking an Asian-origin woman in New York City while a security guard looks on | Twitter

New Delhi: A 65-year-old woman of Asian descent was assaulted on her way to church in New York City Monday, and the CCTV footage of the incident has gone viral.

The victim was taken to the NYU Langone Hospital with a fractured pelvis, and is reportedly in a stable condition.

In the footage, an unidentified man is seen kicking the woman in the chest, after which she falls to the ground. The man then proceeds to punch and kick her in the face repeatedly before he runs away.

The footage suggests no eyewitnesses extended help to the woman or attempted to stop the assault — even the security guard of the store in front of which the incident occurred did nothing to help and, instead, shut the door on the woman.

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NYPD says 65-year-old Asian American woman was walking to church this morning when suspect assaulted her and said “f*** you, you don’t belong here.” Happened in front of 360 W. 43rd St. 11:40am. Sources say building security guard not only failed to render her aid… 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZLtQEHHJci

— CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) March 30, 2021

The New York Post reported that the assailant used racial slurs at the woman, allegedly yelling: “F*** you, you don’t belong here.”

Rising hate against Asians 

Asians have been subjected to hate in the United States since the outbreak of Covid-19 began in China.

Over 3,800 hateful incidents against Asians, mostly women, have been carried out in the US between 19 March 2020 and 28 February 2021, according to a report by Stop AAPI Hate. This is a steep rise from the 2,600 incidents reported in 2019.

Eight people were killed in a mass shooting at three spas in Atlanta on 16 March, and six of the eight were Asian-Americans.

US President Joe Biden has said that the “vicious” hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the country amidst the pandemic were “un-American”, and must stop. Biden, in his first prime-time address to the nation on 11 March after assuming office in January, denounced “violent” attacks on community members, adding they have been harassed, blamed and scapegoated.

(Edited by Shreyas Sharma)