Two Muslim women attacked at Melbourne shopping centre

The Victorian premier has condemned an attack on two Muslim women at a shopping centre in Melbourne’s north.

Transcript

00:00The Victorian Premier has described the attacks on two Muslim women at a shopping complex

00:07as evil.

00:08Now, these attacks occurred on Thursday last week at the Epping Plaza in Melbourne's north.

00:14And a 27-year-old young mother was on her lunch break when she says she was thrown to

00:19the ground.

00:20She said she suffered memory loss and was extremely traumatised after the incident.

00:26We also know that just minutes before that, a pregnant 30-year-old woman who was also

00:31wearing a hijab was attacked by the same offender.

00:35It's understood that she says that she had her scarf pulled and was choked.

00:40They were both transported to Northern Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, but you

00:45can see that they were heavily bruised.

00:48Police say that they will be increasing patrols at that shopping complex, but have laid no

00:53charges yet.

00:54They also say they'll be combing through CCTV in their investigations.

00:58But police say that this was a prejudice-motivated attack and they believe it was targeted because

01:04both women were wearing head coverings.

01:06The reports of the evil attacks on two young Muslim women are just horrific.

01:14This sort of evil hatred, in this instance Islamophobia, has absolutely no place in our

01:21community.

01:22We have zero tolerance for this.

01:24We've heard from the Premier, Jacinta Allen, calling these attacks evil, but we've also

01:28seen the outrage from the Muslim community, including the Islamophobia Register of Australia,

01:34who have said that they've seen a 510% increase in Islamophobic-related incidents after the

01:41Israel-Gaza war.

01:43We've also heard from the Australian National Imams Council, who say that they've seen a

01:46horrifying escalation in targeted attacks against innocent people based on their faith.

01:53The 27-year-old victim in these attacks said that she was unable to stand after the incident

01:59and she also said that she felt unable to leave her house alone and is extremely scared

02:04and shocked by it.

02:06She said that she explained her story on an online community forum the day after it happened,

02:11but said that she received multiple death threats following that.

02:15So she is pleading to the police to try and find the person accountable, the Muslim community

02:20and the Premier as well, hoping for swift response to find that person responsible and

02:26to quickly lay some charges.