An Indian cabbie was brutally beaten by two men in Adelaide who allegedly also stole his taxi in a second such incident in the past three weeks.
Balraj Singh was severely injured on face and his nose was broken in an attack by the two men, who had boarded his cab at the weekend, Australian media reported.
Last month, a 23-year-old Indian student taxi driver Jalvinder Singh was brutally stabbed and left bleeding on the roadside in Melbourne.
A number of taxi drivers today protested the attack on Balraj, causing chaos in Adelaide city even as they sought justice for the victim.
Drivers parked about 50 taxis in front of the court building and protested for about 45 minutes, chanting 'we want justice' over the bashing of Singh, media reports said.
From his hospital bed, Singh said he was punched in the right eye and had his seatbelt wrapped around his neck by a man in the back seat.
"You're not safe at night time. You don't know the people you pick up, who they are," he told ABC TV.
He was being treated for facial injuries, including a broken nose.
Driver Mohsin Mirsa, 26, said cabbies regretted disrupting customers but feared for their safety every day.
"We are prepared to protest until the government says security screens have to be put in taxis," he said.
Meanwhile, ABC reported on Monday that one of the two men charged with bashing Singh and stealing his cab at the weekend made an application for bail.
Driver Balraj Singh was taken to hospital after the attack in the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
Two 24-year-olds, Nathan Morrison and Owen Calyun, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon. Calyun made no application for bail but Morrison will seek to be released on home detention.
Lawyers for both men asked for their names to be suppressed, but the request was denied by Magistrate Joanne Tracey.
