After Bidve killing, Asian assaulted in Salford

Amidst anger and grief over the unprovoked killing of Indian student Anuj Bidve in Salford in the United Kingdom, another Asian man has suffered group assault and racial abuse in the city.

The Manchester police said the Asian, 24, was assaulted and racially abused during an attempted robbery in Salford early on Tuesday.

The identity of the victim has not been revealed. Bidve, a postgraduate student of Microelectronics at Lancaster University, was shot from point blank range on Boxing Day.

One local man has been charged with his murder, while hundreds of people attended a vigil in his memory on Monday evening.

In the latest incident, the police said that after leaving a takeaway with some food, the Asian was followed by four youths, one of whom was on a bike, and asked, "What have you got in your pockets?"

The Asian ran off after being assaulted by the person on the bike, but the group chased him and later all four assaulted him.

He was punched on the head by the offenders, who tried to steal his phone. During the attack one of the assailants shouted racist abuse at him, the police said. The offenders ran off empty-handed, but the victim suffered cuts, swelling and bruising and went to hospital for treatment.

Three of the four offenders were described as white, while one had dark skin. Police Constable Mark Cole said, "The primary motivation for this incident appears to be robbery, but the victim was also subjected to racial abuse by one of his attackers and we are doing all we can to identify them."

He added, "I believe the youths are probably local to the area so if anyone thinks they know who they are or saw what happened please contact me."