A Polish man has been attacked and beaten by a group of up to 20 teenagers in a suspected racially aggravated assault, police said.



The 28-year-old man was seriously injured when he was kicked and punched by a group of male youths aged 16 to 18 in Alliance Street, Armley, Leeds, at around 9.35pm on Friday.

Officers said he had been confronted and assaulted in Town Street before being pursued and then attacked.

The man received a cut to his head that required stitches and hospital treatment, but his injuries are not life-threatening.

West Yorkshire police said they are treating the incident as racially aggravated owing to comments made to the victim and his friend, and are appealing for information.

Offering reassurance, Chief Superintendent Paul Money said they would “not tolerate hate incidents of this nature” and would do everything to those responsible are brought to justice.

“Armley is an area with a strong sense of community across a population from a range of ethnicities and nationalities, and I know that people living there will be as shocked and appalled as we are at this incident,” Money said.

“I appreciate this attack will have understandably caused heightened concerns among eastern European communities, but we are treating it as an isolated incident and not as an indicator of any ongoing hate issue in the area.

“Officers from the local neighbourhood policing team increased their patrols in the area in response to this incident and will be maintaining and increased presence to reassure people.”

The Polish embassy has since tweeted a statement saying it was “saddened by another assault on a Polish national in the UK”, adding that the victim has since been discharged from hospital.

“The assault in Leeds has been the most serious of over 10 xenophobic incidents experienced by Poles in the north of England that the consulate general in Manchester dealt with in recent months,” added the embassy.

“The consular section of the Polish embassy in London offered assistance in further 17 cases in the south and the Midlands.”

Lukasz Lutostanski, Polish consul general in Manchester, has written to local authorities and said he is grateful for the response from the police and the promise to send additional patrols to the area around the crime scene.

“We will work together on solutions that will permanently increase the safety of the Polish nationals,” he added.

The attack in Leeds occurred on the same day that Theresa May expressed her deep regret over the attacks on Polish citizens in a phone call to her counterpart.

She told Beata Szydło that “hate crime has no place in UK society”.

Poles have been victims in a series of incidents since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June – including the killing of Arkadiusz Jóźwik in Harlow, Essex, in August, and the assault of two Polish men within hours of a vigil following his death.