On the evening of Sunday, July 27, an Indian man and his friend were walking near Clondalkin Fonthill train station in west Dublin when a group of teenagers approached them from behind, reports RTE.
“Suddenly, these five, six teenagers, came from behind and snatched my glasses. I asked [for] my glasses back, and then they all started hitting me,” Dr Santosh Yadav, who has been living in Ireland for four years, told RTÉ.
Dr Yadav recounted being repeatedly punched and kicked, reports RTE.
“They hit me on my face, on my head, and on the back, on my chest, and leg, and knees, and everywhere. I was getting blood from my cheek, from my nose, from my ears, everywhere,” reports RTE.
“It was so sudden and so shocking that I could not even see their faces properly,” reports RTE.
According to Dr Yadav, the attackers quickly ran off, and he immediately contacted gardaÃ, who sent an ambulance that brought him to Connolly Blanchardstown Hospital.
He stayed in hospital for more than 12 hours while undergoing X-rays and scans, which revealed a fracture in his cheekbone, reports RTE.
Gardaà confirmed to RTÉ that they had “received report of an alleged incident of assault” in that area and time, and that a man had been taken to hospital “for treatment of serious injuries.” They said their investigation is ongoing.
Dr Yadav believes that racially motivated incidents against the Indian community have become more common over the past year. He described the assault as an unprovoked racist attack, reports RTE.
“I see in the last year, these incidents are increasing… Before that, it was good, but in the last one year, these cases are happening a lot… This time, I was somehow unlucky enough,” Dr Yadav said, reports RTE.
He originally came to Ireland four years ago for a postdoctoral position. After spending a year and a half in Galway, he moved to Dublin, where he now works as a senior data scientist at one of Enterprise Ireland’s European Digital Innovation Hubs. He described the emotional toll of the incident.
“It’s very painful and also frustrating whenever I remember that incident. It gives me so much anxiety and frustration,” reports RTE.
He said the experience has led him to question whether “living in Dublin [is] safe.”
After the attack, Dr Yadav was contacted by the Indian Embassy, which informed him that such attacks were happening more frequently.
He said that many Indian nationals, including students and professionals, are hesitant to report racist incidents out of concern for their visa or job security, reports RTE.
Within the “Indian community, especially, everyone is scared of going out and many people have decided to leave this country,” he added.
Dr Yadav also suspects that racial bias combined with misinformation may have influenced the attackers.
“I feel that we are being targeted because we have a different skin colour… I think some misinformation or some belief they have…that we are taking their job or something,” reports RTE.
“But we are working so hard. We are paying 40% of our salary every month,” Dr Yadav said, reports RTE.
Just over a week earlier, on Saturday, July 19, another Indian man was brutally attacked and partially stripped in the Kilnamanagh area of southwest Dublin. The widely reported incident drew public attention.
During the assault, the attackers removed the man’s trousers and beat him in public, while falsely accusing him of inappropriate behavior involving children, reports RTE.
When he sought help, he was reportedly attacked again — an act believed to have been triggered by false online claims about his behavior.
An Garda SÃochána stated that the allegations made against the man were baseless and that they are investigating the case as a potential hate crime.
Footage from the incident, along with the misleading claims, circulated quickly online, further fueled by known anti-immigrant accounts, reports RTE.
The man, who had only been in Ireland for three weeks to begin a job at Amazon, suffered several injuries and was hospitalized.
In response, the Indian Embassy issued a safety advisory on Friday, citing “an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently.”
“All Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours,” the advisory said, and included an emergency contact number, reports RTE.
These recent incidents have not only affected Indian nationals. Other migrants have also been targeted, often following viral false claims online.
On July 1, an Afghan asylum seeker was assaulted in the Parnell Street area of Limerick city, one day after a video spread on social media falsely accusing him of approaching children, reports RTE.
Gardaà labeled the online claims as “misinformation and disinformation.”
Last year, Nigerian architect Onyema Udeze was physically attacked in Dublin after being falsely accused of rape, reports RTE.
Mr Udeze had traveled to Dublin to speak at a construction industry event at the RDS.
Although gardaà confirmed the allegations were untrue, the misinformation still spread widely online, reports RTE.
Since 2021, when a standardized system for documenting hate crimes was implemented, recorded hate crimes in Ireland have increased each year.
That year, there were 448 recorded hate crimes and related incidents. This rose to 582 in 2022, 651 in 2023, and 676 in 2024 — the highest since the system was introduced, reports RTE.
Still, Gardaà acknowledge that hate-related crimes remain under-reported. Racial bias continues to be the leading motive in these cases.
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