Cantebury’s Star newspaper is reporting today on two racist street attacks that have taken place in Christchurch in the past few days.

The first incident involved a young mother and her children as she was putting them in her car and the second a man who was beaten by a skinhead as he left a bottle store.

Hazel Munro was putting her five-month-old daughter Olivia in her car on Windermere Rd in Papanui a couple of weeks ago when a full 4-litre can of paint was thrown at her from a mini-van as it slowly passed by.

She had parked there to visit a friend and was leaving to pick up her eldest daughter from school. The paint went all over Mrs Munro, her car, and some splattered on her two-year-old daughter, Samantha.”

Mrs Munro told the paper that she had heard the occupants laughing as they drove away and felt that she may have been assaulted because she was a Filipino, saying “they might be targeting Asian people”  and described the people responsible as “European teenagers.”

The second incident happened around 10pm on Saturday as a Zimbabwean 19 year old, who is said to have lived in New Zealand for a number of years, was hit as he left a bottle store. He described his assailant as an intoxicated skinhead in his 30s. We went on to tell the media that

“he did get the odd ”racial slur”, but it frustrated him more when people who could not defend themselves, like Mrs Munro, were targeted. Read the full report here

Just last month we reported on how a thug involved in a racist street attack last August, had finally been made to answer for his actions when he was refused home detention for an assault on two Korean citizens.

At the time we said that was not the first time we’d highlighted racist attacks in Christchurch, nor was it likely to be the last. The incident involving the two Korean citizens was very similar to one we wrote about in February when 2 Japanese students were attacked by a gang of skinheads as they waited at a bus stop in the city. As far as we know no-one has been charged with that assault.

That attack drew a fair amount of contempt from the readers of Stuff who are very eager to talk about the issue of racism in Christchurch, allegedly a “haven for Neo-Nazis due to the lack of competition from other gangs”.  At the time we mentioned that police in New Zealand still don’t/won’t collect data on racially motivated crimes, it is very hard to know the true extent of this problem both in Christchurch and throughout the country.

Related stories:

Everyday race hate rife in Christchurch – 3 Sept 2009

“An attack on a Thai girl, who was beaten up by fellow pupils on a bus, is part of everyday “race hate” in Christchurch, a homestay parent says.
Paul Stratford said the Avonside Girls’ High School pupil arrived at his house distressed and covered in blood after being beaten up on the bus after school on Monday.
The assault comes after a South Korean pupil had a knife held to his throat and was kicked to the ground in an unprovoked attack at a Christchurch bus stop last week…”

Covert Racial Prejudice commonplace in NZ – 12 November 2009

“A MAORI Party boss says hidden racism is rife in New Zealand.
Co-vice president Heta Hingston said fellow Maori Party member Hone Harawira’s email rant against Pakeha was no worse than “covert” racial prejudice commonplace throughout the country. “That email, I wouldn’t want to say [if it was racist],” Hingston, a retired Maori Land Court judge, told Sunday News.

“I can concede it is offensive to some people – nobody would deny that. But racism … in New Zealand, is covert. Very few of the ardent anti-Maori, anti-Islander, anti-Asian front up.”