Just after 12pm on Monday, a 65-year-old Asian American woman was attacked on the streets of Manhattan by an unidentified man police say is still at large.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) released surveillance footage of a man physically and verbally attacking the woman while yelling anti-Asian sentiments. The video also showed security guards at a nearby building standing by and watching without intervening. The incident is being investigated by police as a hate crime, and has incited horror and fury across social media.
A reporter for ABC 7 Eyewitness News, said on Twitter that the attacker was heard saying, “f*** you, you don’t belong here.”
CeFaan Kim, said that the woman, who was on her way to church, suffered serious injuries as a result of the attack. She was hospitalised with swelling to the face and pain in her left leg, a fractured pelvis and contusion to her head.
Earlier this month, a gunman took the lives of eight people at three spaces in Atlanta, Georgia; six of the victims were Asian women.