去年2月24日，一名新加坡籍华裔留学生在英国伦敦牛津街被一群当地少年袭击，导致鼻梁和颧骨多处骨折。
受害者是伦敦大学学院法律系的学生莫显强，现年24岁。据莫显强回忆，当时包括一名女孩在内的五人小组突然开始对他拳打脚踢，袭击者们在施暴之前叫喊着“我们不希望你把冠状病毒带到我们的国家”，并在施暴之后迅速逃离。
本周三，这起种族袭击事件中被捕的一名16岁少年因种族动机蓄意重伤他人而被处以收容管教18个月，并向莫显强支付600英镑（约合820美元）的赔偿金。
但由于袭击者尚未成年，法庭不允许媒体发布任何身份资料，包括他的姓名，没有其他人因袭击受到指控。
法官席主席默文·曼德尔表示，如果这位16岁的少年是成年人，他“会在监狱里待很长一段时间”。
他说：“这是一次无端的袭击，除了他的长相，没有其他原因。”
A 16-year-old boy has been sentenced to 18 months in a youth rehabilitation facility for a racially motivated attack on a Singaporean student in London.
Jonathan Mok, then a senior at University College of London (UCL) law school, was beaten up on Oxford Street last February by a group of people in an “unprovoked attack” last year on February 24.
One of the group of five, which included a girl, punched him in the face and said “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country” before they fled, the Straits Times reported.
According to the BBC, the teenager was convicted of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm following a trial at Highbury Corner Youth Court earlier this month, confirming what the Metropolitan Police in London deemed to be a racially motivated assault.
The teenager turned himself in following a police surveillance appeal in March last year, said the youth’s defense barrister Gerard Pitt.
Before being sentenced, the teenager said: “When I saw the picture, I felt disgusted. I apologize for my actions.”
The court heard the boy had no previous convictions, but had two youth cautions for common assault.
No one else has been charged in connection with the attack.
Chairman of the bench Mervyn Mandell said that had the 16-year-old been an adult he “would have gone to jail for a very long time.”
“This was an unprovoked attack for no reason other than his appearance,” he said.
The court also ordered the teenager to follow a curfew from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. which will be electronically monitored and pay 600 pounds (about $820) compensation to Mok.
莫显强在一份声明中说，这次袭击对他和他的家人“造成了沉重的打击”。
“由于手术和后续医疗预约，我的法律课程不得不暂停一个月，”莫显强表示，“我患上了焦虑症，睡眠也有问题。我认为被告对新加坡人和东南亚人是一个威胁。他并没有表示出懊悔。”
Mok said in a statement that the attack had “taken a heavy toll” on him and his family.
“My legal education had to be halted for a month due to surgery and follow up medical appointments,” he added. “I have anxiety and have problems sleeping. I believe the defendant is a threat to Singaporeans and Southeast Asians. He has shown no remorse.”
Posters against racism towards Asians are seen at the subway station at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., January 1, 2021. /AP
根据YouGov今年6月进行的一项民意调查，在英国生活的华裔比其他任何少数族裔群体更容易受到种族主义言论的影响。大约76%的华裔表示，他们至少有过一次被人直接对他们使用种族污蔑的经历。而60%的华裔表示这种情况在他们身上发生过多次。而在大洋彼岸，纽约和洛杉矶当局也表示，针对亚裔的仇恨事件有所增加。
According to a YouGov poll conducted in June, people from Chinese backgrounds living in the UK were more exposed to racist comments than any other ethnic minority group. Some 76 percent of ethnic Chinese said they had experienced someone using a racial slur directly against them on at least one occasion. Sixty percent said that it had happened to them multiple times.
Authorities in New York City and Los Angeles said hate incidents against people of Asian descent have increased. Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition of Asian American advocacy groups, issued a report in August stating that it had received more than 2,500 reports of hate and discrimination across the country since the group was founded in March, around the time the outbreak began to seriously worsen in the U.S. The group said it received data from 47 states, with 46 percent of the incidents taking place in California, followed by 14 percent in New York.
袭击事件发生后，莫显强在接受新加坡《海峡时报》采访时表示：“我认为分享并开始讨论是很重要的。”
“种族问题已经存在了这么长时间，这表明它们有多么危险……即使一开始是口头上的，也可能升级为身体暴力。种族主义不是愚蠢——种族主义是仇恨。种族主义者会不断找借口表达他们的仇恨，在疫情的背景下，他们又找到了另一个借口。”
After the assault, Mok told The Straits Times: “I thought it was important to share and start the debate.”
“Race issues have been prevalent for so long and this shows how dangerous they can be… Even when they start off verbally, they can escalate to physical violence… Racism is not stupidity – racism is hate. Racists constantly find excuses to expound their hatred – and in this current backdrop of the coronavirus, they’ve found yet another excuse.”