Latest: JAPANESE GIRL STONED BY RACIST GANG IN DRUMCONDRA

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday July 31, 2002 19:17 by Joe C - Globalise Resistance globalise_resistance at yahoo dot com

PRESS RELEASE

Natsuko Hashimoto, a Japanese scuba diving instructor in her 20s and an English language student, was jogging on Monday afternoon near her home in Drumcondra, when she saw stones fly in front of her. When one hit her forcfully on the shoulder, Natsuko realise that they were being aimed for her head. She fell to the ground in severe pain, and stones continued to fall close to her. She could clearly hear the racist taunts and guffaws of laughter from her assailants, a group of four to five white Irish teenagers.

Natsuko's statement-

"The first time I heard someone swearing at me, I was really shocked, but now I am used to it. I won't be surprised any longer if somebody suddenly swears at me on the street for no reason. Since coming here, I have been refused admittance to pubs. People have tried to push me into the river. I've been trying not to think about it much because I know there are a lot of strange people in the world.

But i felt it was wrong when I had to run away from a lot of stones coming down on me like rain yesterday. It was yesterday afternoon (Monday) when I was running by the river. I noticed that someone was throwing stones. It didn't take a long time to realise that the somebody was many children and the stones were being thrown at me.

I fell down when one of the stones hit me on my upper chest bone. When I heard them laughing and throwing more stones, I couldn't help feeling terrified from the bottom of my heart. At that time, I wasn't a human being to them...

I couldn't stop my tears...

What i can't understand is why they do such a thing- is it because I grew up in a peaceful country?

A lot of Irish greet me with a lovely smile on the streets.
I know a lot of irish help me even when my English is very bad.
I wonder when I think about Ireland after I've gone home,
what will I remember the most?"

Joe Carolan, from Globalise Resistance, is Natsuko's English teacher-

"What has happened to Natsuko is happening daily on the streets of Dublin. Every morning and afternoon, I hear from my students how they have been puched, pushed off busses, had their faces spat into, and had stones or bottles thrown at them, all with horrible racist slurs they now know full well. It's over six months since we took to the streets demanding justice for Zhao Liu Tao, a Chinese student who was murdered not too far from where Natsuko's attack took place. Many students have been looking at that case and at the rise of physical attacks on their person in the last few months, and concluding that Ireland is becoming a much nastier and violent place for them to live.

It's not happening in a vacumn- since Operation Hyphen was launched, many students are complaining of random stop and searches for ID. They thus feel hesitant about reporting racist attacks, and feel that their concerns are being dismissed. This government is now sending out strong signals that immigrants and refugees are not welcome here, and this is fuelling the racist thugs and gangs on the street.

Natsuko is a strong woman and she is speaking out, because she knows that this is not just happening to her, it's happening to someone- Asian, Eastern European or African, every day in Dublin. We need to take strong action against racist attacks in the next few weeks, before somebody is killed again. The killers of Zhao Liu Tao were not just drunken teenagers, similarly the people who stoned Natsuko when she lay wounded on the ground are not just lads up to their high jinks. A well thrown stone to the head can kill."

Natsuko will speak at the Globalise Resistance forum on racist attacks and deportations
this Saturday 3pm August 3rd
at Bowes Pub, Fleet Street.

All concerned community groups and anti racists welcome to attend.

For more info contact
globalise_resistance@yahoo.com