A gang of about 10 people dragged taxi driver Sikondor Ullah, 37, from his vehicle and attacked him in a racially-motivated assault and robbery in Edinburgh.
The attack happened on Sunday evening. One of the gang jumped onto the taxi’s bonnet and smashed the windscreen. The man who jumped on the taxi is white, tall, of slim build and was wearing a red top.
A three-figure sum of cash was stolen from the taxi. The attackers were male and female aged between 14 and 20.
The same youths had earlier stepped out in front of his taxi, forcing him to stop and stealing an item from his boot.
Sikondor is quoted in the media as saying: “This has really shaken me up as nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I was on my way to pick up customers when this group of ten to twelve people appeared on the road. They were around sixteen to twenty year olds.
“They blocked the road and then they walked towards the car before opening the doors. I jumped out to close the doors and that’s when they noticed I was Asian. As I pulled up to the house I was picking up from the group reappeared. They came to the driver’s door and opened it and reached in and grabbed my beard and pulled me out the car. Four of them were trying to get me out the car others were searching through the car as one jumped on the bonnet.”
He added: “The guys that had me were pulling at my beard, my hat and shirt. I couldn’t get away from them. The one who was jumping on my car then started kicking the windscreen until it smashed. Once they had done this they all ran away. I am certain they done this because I am different from them, because I am from Bangladesh.”
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Det Con Euan Hair, of Police Scotland, said: “We are treating this assault and robbery as racially-motivated and are determined to track down these suspects as quickly as possible. This man was simply going about his legitimate business and he has a right to do so without being assaulted. There is no place for racism in our communities and we will use all resources available to deal with those responsible swiftly.”
