A Singaporean student currently living in London has been beaten up by racists and who told him: "I don't want your coronavirus in my country", the Metro reports.
Jonathan Mok - a 23-year-old student at University College London (UCL) - has lived in London for two years, but amid the coronavirus crisis, he has now become the victim of a horrific racist attack.
Taking to Facebook, Mok detailed how his face "exploded with blood" after he reacted to one of their comments regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in at attack, which occurred on February 24 along Oxford Street in London.
A Chinese doctor was recently filmed breaking down with stress due to the number of patients with the Covid-19 virus:In the distressing Facebook post, Mok says he was beaten up by a group of three or four men and a woman, after one of the men said: "Don’t you dare look at me", before punching Mok in his face.
"All of a sudden, the first punch was swung at my face and took me by surprise. When I was still shocked by the first hit, the guy delivered the second sucker punch," Mok recalled.
Mok started the lengthy Facebook post by saying:
"The spread of coronavirus has resulted in panic across the world — with people debating as to the severity of the situation: is this a deadly virus that we should all be afraid of? Or is it just similar to the common flu? It is without doubt that the medical effects of the COVID-19 has taken the front stage in issues across the world (and rightfully so).
"However, when we have been focusing solely on the health effects of the coronavirus, we fail to see the social effects that has surfaced from the spread of this virus— where racism has found yet another excuse to rear its ugly head."
Mok detailed how passers-by attempted to "reason with them that four on one was not fair" and that he attempted to react in self-defence, but couldn’t retaliate as he had a broken finger. Jonathan said:
"The guy who tried to kick me then said, 'I don’t want your coronavirus in my country', before swinging another sucker punch at me, which resulted in my face exploding with blood (from my nose), where the blood was splattered all across the pavement.
"Still in daze and shock, the group left promptly from the scene before the police arrived."
Doctors have reportedly told Jonathon that he may need surgery after suffering fractures in his face.
Mok then candidly addressed the racist motives behind his attack, saying:
"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. From refusing service to a Chinese-looking person to racially-motivated hate crimes, every single one of these acts are based on racism.
"People dismiss racism with statements such as 'It’s not all of us - only a minority are racists and this does not reflect on a city/country'. While factually true, not only it does not change the fact that this is an ugly problem that has plagued humanity for a very long time, but also it belittles this problem we have.
"Racism has changed [its] form and shape through the years and it is once again rearing its ugly head in light of the COVID-19 crisis."
Jonathon's full post can be read below:Speaking out about the attack, Jonathan told Channel News Asia that he has heard of similar racist comments, "but nothing so overt" so far. He said:
"It is ridiculous people are being targeted for being Asian [...] I do everything as if it were normal, I’m not afraid of these people and I refuse to let them think I am afraid of them."
Per the BBC, approximately 90,000 people have been infected globally since the outbreak of coronavirus in the Hubei province, China, back in December. The disease has spread to more than 50 countries and resulted in over 3,000 deaths.
We wish Jonathon all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery.