Crime & Public Safety [Solved] Sinophobia hate crimes

The NYPD released disturbing video Sunday morning of a violent Queens home invasion in which two brutes attacked a woman in her apartment and pointed a gun at her head.

Cops said the violence occurred at about 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 26 at an undisclosed location in Flushing, within the confines of the 109th Precinct.

according to law enforcement sources, the two suspects followed the 35-year-old woman into her home after she took out the trash. 

The video, taken from inside the victim’s apartment, shows the brutal struggle that unfolded between the victim and the two invaders.

She struggles mightily to fend off the attackers — one of whom brandishing a black handgun — as they work to restrain her on the floor. 

At one point, she sits up — and the gun-toting suspect then wraps his arm around her neck and points his weapon at her head, threatening to shoot.

The other suspect then tries to restrain the woman’s wrists with a cable tie, and when she continues struggling, he and the armed invader then drag her into another room, out of the camera’s sight.

Law enforcement sources said the crooks removed $3,000 in cash, as well as two iPhones, a Louis Vuitton purse, and credit cards from the victim’s home. They then fled the scene in an unknown direction.

Police sources said the victim was not seriously injured.

Cops described both attackers as Asian men with skinny builds who wore black masks and black clothing. One of the suspects is shown on the camera wearing a black sweatshirt with the words “OFF THE WALL” written on the back.

Stunning video shows Queens home invaders attacking woman and putting gun to her head | amNewYork (amny.com)

© Provided by The Independent

Community groups supporting Chinese and other East Asian communities in the UK are being trained to support victims of Covid-related racial attacks, after a Chinese lecturer was assaulted last week.

Peng Wang, 37, was brutally attacked by four men while he was jogging near his home in Southampton last Tuesday. He sustained facial injuries and an injury to his elbow in the attack, which took place at around 4.15pm on Vosper Road, Southampton.

The men drove past Mr Wang in a car and shouted abuse at him. When the University of Southampton lecturer shouted back to defend himself, they stopped the car and assaulted him.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man from Southampton on suspicion of racially aggravated assault. He was released from custody but remains under investigation.

Mr Wang, who is from Tianjin but has lived in Southampton for six years, told the South China Morning Post: “Some crazy guys shouted at me from their car on the other side of the road. They said ‘Chinese virus’, get out [of] this country, f*** you.”

He said racism against East and South East Asians (ESEA) has become worse “since Brexit and then the pandemic”, adding that when he first arrived in the UK, he had “no worry” about going jogging even at night.

In a separate interview with ITV News, Mr Wang said: “Hatred crimes are increasing in the two years after Brexit and after the pandemic.

“So we as Eastern Asian people I would say we are currently in a dangerous position in the UK. If things get worse, maybe I’ll leave in the soonest time we can.”

The rise in racial attacks and violent hate crime against people of Chinese ethnicity and appearance was especially apparent at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is continuing.

Police data indicated a 300 per cent increase in hate crime reports from British Chinese, East and South East Asians in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2018 and 2019.

There are also concerns that an influx of Hong Kong residents coming into the UK under a new visa scheme will not have enough support when they move into their new homes.

The new visa allows holders of a British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport and their immediate dependents to settle in the UK after China imposed a new security law.

Charities such as Protection Approaches, which works to end identity-based violence, have launched initiatives alongside Chinese and ESEA community organisations to respond to the rise in hate crimes and provide resources for support.

Together with the Chinese Welfare Trust and Newham Chinese Association, Protection Approaches launched an “emergency project” in December to “deliver a comprehensive training programme to staff and volunteers”.

The project, called Confronting Covid-Related Hate, will “support victims of hate crime and abuse”, as well as help build relationships across community groups, local authorities, police and frontline service providers.

Lisa Yeung-Donaldson, of the Chinese Welfare Trust, wrote in the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Hate Crime Newsletter in February: “With the support of an independent Review Group, longer-term sustainable strategies will be explored, including the formation of a national hub-like network of local hate crime reporting or support centres.”

Chinese groups in UK are being taught how to handle Covid hate crimes after brutal attack on lecturer (msn.com)

A violent knife attack at a Chinese restaurant in the village of Ynyswen in Wales left a 16-year-old girl dead.

Despite attempts by paramedics to save her, Wenjing Xu died at the Blue Sky Chinese, her family’s takeaway restaurant in Baglan Street on Friday, reports the BBC.

While still under investigation, police are treating Wenjing’s death as murder following a post mortem examination of her body.

Police have arrested a 31-year-old man known to the victim on suspicion of murder and also brought into custody a 38-year-old man in connection with the incident, the Standard reported.

The men, both believed to be Chinese, are being treated at the hospital where armed cops are keeping a close watch. They will be interviewed as soon as doctors indicate that they can be spoken to, according to the Sun.

Wenjing, a Grade A student, lived in the apartment above the family-owned restaurant, where she worked part-time. She had just recently been accepted at a sixth form college where she was to study math and psychology.

According to the victim’s best friend, she was about to attend a socially-distance birthday get-together with her friends before she was killed.

 “We were texting her about meeting up and then the messages suddenly stopped,” the friend shared. “We thought she’d fallen asleep then we heard what happened.

Friends and family mourned her passing, with many paying tribute in her memory.

“I am devastated at what has happened – she was lovely, an A-grade student who could have achieved anything in life,” one friend said. 

“Wenjing had a very gentle soul, she was a very quiet person,” her family said in a statement. 

“Wenjing helped the whole family, working in the family takeaway. She enjoyed school and worked very hard. She was loved by her family.”