Indian Police Search for Suspects After ‘Racist Attack’ on Nigerians

Police are still hunting for four people in an Indian city after an angry crowd attacked Nigerians with sticks and metal chairs following the death of a local teenager from a suspected drug overdose,

AFP has quoted senior police officer, Sujata Singh, as saying: “Rumours were being spread that Africans are behind the youth’s death and racist comments were made on social media. It looks racially motivated. Five attackers have been arrested and four others are on the run.”

Ms Singh said about 500 people had gathered to hold a candle-lit vigil to demand justice for the teenager, and became violent after spotting a group of Nigerians.

Four Nigerian students were wounded in the attack that took place in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

It was the latest violence against Africans in the country.

India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Sharawaj said in a tweet that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh had assured her of an impartial investigation into the “unfortunate incident”.

Indian newspapers have reported that five people were arrested over an earlier attack on two Nigerians in Noida, near the capital, Delhi.

Before the attack occurred, more than 100 people protested at a bus junction in the city, demanding that all Africans living in residential neighbourhoods in Greater Noida be asked to leave their rented homes immediately.

Five Nigerian students were reportedly detained over the case, but later released because of a lack of evidence, local media reported.