International students in Cork have expressed concern for their safety after two people who travelled from India to study at University College Cork (UCC) had ropes thrown around their necks by teenagers in the city centre last Saturday.
Dr Lekha Menon Margassery, who is president of the UCC Indian Alumni Community, has called for increased policing in Cork city centre in the wake of what she believes were racially motivated incidents.
Dr Margassery said one student was talking to his friend on the phone near Carroll’s Gift Shop on Patrick Street at around 5.30pm last Saturday when a rope was thrown around his neck.
“Suddenly a guy just threw a plastic rope around his neck and tried to strangle him. Somehow the student took off the rope and ran away.
“He crossed the road and started walking and took a picture of the entire gang of teenagers.”
Dr Margassery said the second incident happened within half an hour in the Adelaide Street and North Main Street area and involved the same group of teenagers.
“These two students were working back in India but the company has given them a sabbatical and they are here to do their masters.
“They are a husband and wife. And the same guy put a rope around the neck of the husband. He immediately took it off. And [what looked like] a 10-year-old boy laughed as if it were a joke.
“It is very scary because that could happen to anyone. I am hearing that about three weeks or a month earlier some graduates were walking across Paul Street shopping centre in Cork. They were just buying groceries. They were surrounded by four people who were abusing them. Telling them to go back to their country.
“I am shocked by this. I am here since 2008 and it is only in the last six months that I am hearing of this type of thing.”
Dr Margassery said the first impacted student is afraid to leave the UCC campus. He is looking for a job on site as he doesn’t want to go to the city centre for part-time work.
She stresses that international students come to Ireland to explore and to learn more about the culture of another country.
“And also to make connections. But if they are scared and just inside the campus they are not going to make connections.
“The students want to remain anonymous because they are new to the country and they are afraid that [the perpetrators] will find them and do something. Which is valid.
“I am worried. We have built a nice community here. It is a multicultural community. It used to be very welcoming.
“When such events happen how can I tell them that they are safe and that future students would be safe?”
Dr Margassery has always found Cork to be a warm and welcoming place.
However, the former local election candidate admitted that she has become more reluctant to socialise in Cork city centre.
She feels that the incidents at the weekend form part of a concerning trend of increased hostility towards people from overseas.
“When I put this incident in our WhatsApp group, one of the [Indian] graduates told me that people passing by in a car poured some water on her by the courthouse.
“People are shaken. They are saying ‘Should I withdraw my application?’ Does this happen more often?’
“I don’t have answers. I think more policing is required. What if this happened and a student had a panic attack or a health complaint and died [from the shock] of something like this? It has shaken all of the international students.”
The first student made an official complaint to gardaí. Gardaí have been informed of the second incident. However, the impacted student has chosen not to make an official complaint.
Meanwhile, the Garda Press Office has confirmed that gardaí received a report of an alleged incident of assault, which occurred on St Patrick's Street in Cork last Saturday afternoon.
“No injuries were reported at the time. Enquiries are ongoing.”
A spokesman for the Garda Press Office is making enquiries with the relevant district in relation to the second alleged incident.
