Police investigating a suspected hate attack that left a Kurdish Iranian teen fighting for his life have released pictures of three people they wish to identify and question.
Eight people are being held on suspicion of attempted murder for the “frenzied” attack, in which a gang of thugs punched and kicked the teenager, leaving him with a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain.
The suspected hate attack, which took place at a bus stop in Croydon on Friday, reportedly took place after the assailants established that the 17-year-old victim was foreign.
The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, with Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott blaming the Conservative government for the brutal assault, in which police say “approximately 20 people” took part.
Noting a rising number of hate crime reports since the Brexit vote, the Labour MP suggested the Tories’ refusal to openly promote mass migration contributed to the attack.
“Sadly this is not an isolated incident but part of a sustained increase in hate crimes that this Tory Government is yet to offer any effective response to.
“With right-wing politicians across the world scapegoating migrants, refugees and others for their economic problems, we are seeing a deeply worrying rise in the politics of hate.
“We must make clear that there is no place for anti-foreigner myths, racism and hate in our society,” Abbott declared on Sunday, before the pictures were released.
On Monday, Scotland Yard renewed calls for witnesses and people with any information pertaining to the incident to come forward, as the victim remained in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
“Whilst arrests have been made, we now know that a large number of people, approximately 20, were involved in the attack on the victim,” said Croydon CID’s Detective Inspector Gary Castle.
He announced: “It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack.
“He sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers.
“If you can help identify any of these people please call my team without delay.”
Members of the Kurdish minority have been the victims of hate attacks across Europe in recent months. Breitbart London reported Sunday that a number of Kurds had been attacked with knives by Turkish migrant supporters of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attacked men and women had been attempting to vote in the forthcoming Turkish referendum on extending the powers of the President.
Turks clashing with and attacking Kurds, who are a persecuted minority in many areas, has become a regular feature in many European cities, with confrontations often descending into extreme violence.
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