As anti-Asian hate protesters rally, NYC launches 5 attacks

A 68-year-old Sri Lankan man was riding the subway in Lower Manhattan on Friday when another passenger shouted a racial uproar and punched him in the head, leaving him bleeding and in a critical condition.

On Saturday morning, a 66-year-old man of Asian descent was slapped in the face in the Lower East Side.

On Sunday, three more attacks came, police said: A woman of Asian descent was thrown to the ground in the city center, another was hit on the Lower East Side with a metal pipe and a third was hit twice in the face after attending a demonstration in Union Square in support of Asian-American victims along with her young daughter.

The attacks around New York City over the weekend, as hundreds of marchers gathered in various protests to end such assaults, were further examples of violence against Asian Americans amid a new wave of xenophobia raging during the pandemic originated. .

The assaults underscored the feelings of fear and helplessness that have gripped the Asian-American community, even before a shooting in the Atlanta area last week killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent.

Katie Hou, 37, who is Chinese-American and was attacked on Sunday afternoon after going to the protest in Union Square, said in an interview that she is getting stronger and hopes that her meeting will not scare other Asian-Americans into do not speak.

“People need to be vigilant about their safety, but at the same time we need to do something to prevent it from happening again,” she said.

Police said they were investigating at least five different attacks that took place between Friday and Sunday, and three people were arrested in connection with three of them.

But much is not yet known about the victims or the attackers, and it appears two behaved illegally before the incidents.

In the assault on the subway, the man arrested, Marc Mathieu, posted a long, shaky video on Facebook the morning of the attack in which he spoke incomprehensibly about violent security forces working at the Staten Island Ferry, under other unbound topics. .

The man who attacked the woman on Sunday after the protest took off his pants and exposed himself to witnesses and shouted at passersby, saying they were going to jail, according to one witness of the attack.

Both cases are being investigated as hate crimes, police said. But the criminal justice system has faced challenges to definitively prove racist motives in apparent anti-Asian crimes. Some advocates have pointed out shortcomings in the hate crime laws.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who acknowledged the spate of violence, said Monday that the city would increase police presence in Asian communities and encouraged people to report crimes.

“It makes me angry, and it makes me angry, and we will deal with it aggressively,” he told a news conference. “I want everyone, in every way you can, to help support our Asian-American neighbors, speak in front of them and report everything you see.”

Although it is difficult to measure the extent of the recent violence against people of Asian descent, in part because many crimes are not reported, the number of police investigations into hate crimes has increased this year, compared to the same period last year.

Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said in an interview with Pix11 before the recent attacks on Thursday that the department was investigating ten anti-Asian hate crimes reported in mid-March, compared to nothing in early 2020 before the pandemic reached New York.

The department last year recorded 29 anti-Asian attacks, including 25 that, according to investigators, stemmed from anti-Asian sentiments and the perception that the victim was carrying the coronavirus, according to police statistics released in January.

Last year, the police set up a unit under the hate crime task force specifically targeting hate crimes against people of Asian descent.

“It is very important that we find people who do this and take them off the streets,” he said. De Blasio said Monday.

George O’krepkie, a witness to the assault, said the attacker threw a crumpled newspaper at the victim before charging him and shouting a racial stir.

“He was on top of him,” he said. “Within seconds, there was blood everywhere.”

The victim was taken to the New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in critical but stable condition. It was not clear if he was released, but a man who answered the phone number for the victim declined to comment.

Mr. Mathieu was executed Monday on some form of second-degree assault, and prosecutors, who ultimately determine whether anyone should be charged with a hate crime, said they were investigating whether the attack was such a crime.

Family members of mr. Mathieu did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Mathieu declined to comment.

Police did not release the name of the man who they said attacked a man on the Lower East Side on Saturday. The attack is also being investigated as a hate crime.

Hou, who works in accounting, said Sunday she took her 7-year-old daughter to a rally in Union Square to learn about racial tensions in America, especially after the shooting in Atlanta. According to her, the two left the protest around 11:30 when a man walked up to Mrs Hou and asked for a sign she was wearing: ‘Hate has no peace’ and ‘Racist = psychopath’.

She said she gave him the sign because she thought he wanted to protest. But he broke it on the ground, she said. When she tried to confront him, he punched her twice in the face, but the two did not exchange words.

DeVonn Francis, 27, who saw the attack, said the man started yelling at people and said they were going to jail. Mr. Francis and others followed the man to a nearby subway station, where he exposed himself before boarding the train and driving away.

A 41-year-old woman of Asian descent was walking hours later Sunday afternoon in Midtown in West 31st Street when she was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground, police said.

Patricia Melendez, 37, was arrested on charges of assault and disorderly conduct. It was not clear if Melendez had a lawyer, and her family members could not be reached for comment.

It was not immediately clear how seriously the victim was injured, but police said they were investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.

Later Sunday afternoon, a 54-year-old woman of Asian descent was walking on the Lower East Side when a man confronted her and hit her in the face with a metal pipe. Police did not name the victim, but said she was torn from her nose and taken to a nearby hospital.

Police have arrested Elias Guerrero, 38, on several charges, including assault on hate crime, resisting arrest and harassment.

Family members for mr. Guerrero did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

Ashley Southall and Daniel E. Slotnik reported, and Susan Beachy contributed research.