Ottawa Sikh community rallies around victim of possible hate crime

Sikh community rally around hate crime CTV's Joanne Schnurr reports on how the Sikh community is rallying around a young international student after he was assaulted Friday night.

Ottawa’s Sikh community is rallying around a young international student, after he was assaulted Friday night.

Police are treating the assault as a possible hate crime after his turban was stolen and racial slurs thrown his way.

According to his supporters, the student is terrified after what happened to him.   He doesn't want to be identified but does want to return home to India after Friday night's attack.  It happened while he was waiting for a bus near the Westgate Shopping Centre after leaving his workplace Friday night.  Police are looking for two men in their 20s who they say attacked the victim, dragging him on the ground and stealing his turban.

Today, members of the Ottawa Sikh Society accompanied the young victim to the police station for an update on the case.  They are also organizing a fundraising drive to help the student with his tuition and encourage him to continue his studies here in Canada.

“The Ottawa Sikh Society has decided to do fundraising,” says Daljit Nirman, Legal Counsel with the Ottawa Sikh Society, one of several men who accompanied the young victim to the police station today, “to support him financially and pay his tuition and other living expenses because this boy is scared.  It is just to show him strength and support.”

“The boy, he's quite scared and affected deeply becks of this,” added Dr. Inderjit Singh Sambi, the president of the Ottawa Sikh Society, “We wanted to bring him to show him that the police are doing something so he gets some reassurance.”

The Ottawa Sikh Society wants to meet with the police chief to discuss this case.

The police meantime continue their search for the two men involved in the attack.