Jonathan Mok says he was punched and told ‘I don’t want your virus in my country’

Police are investigating an alleged race-hate attack on a Singaporean student in London by a group of people who are said to have shouted about the coronavirus before beating him up.

Officers said they were looking into reports of an attack on Oxford Street at about 9.30pm last Monday, after Jonathan Mok shared pictures of his battered face and wrote about his ordeal in a Facebook post.

Mok said one of the group tried to kick him in the head and told him: “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.”

Scotland Yard said it had received a report that a 23-year-old man was punched and sustained facial injuries, and officers were looking at CCTV to try to identify suspects.

Mok said several racist taunts had been directed at him in recent weeks, some involving references to the coronavirus. Writing about last Monday’s incident, he said he was walking past a group of men when he heard one make a reference to the virus, and he stopped to look at them.

“All of a sudden, the first punch was swung at my face and took me by surprise. When I was still shocked by the first hit, the guy delivered the second sucker punch. By then, a few passersby had stopped and one of them tried to reason with them that four on one was not fair.

“The attacker’s friend tried to swing a kick at me as I was explaining to the passerby that I hadn’t done anything at all. I tried to react in self-defence but couldn’t do anything substantial because I was still recovering from a broken finger in my master hand.

“The guy who tried to kick me then said: ‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country,’ before swinging another sucker punch at me, which resulted in my face exploding with blood (from my nose), where the blood was splattered all across the pavement.”

Mok, who been studying in London for the past two years, said he hated being in the spotlight and did not like writing posts on Facebook or any social media platform but the incident highlighted an important issue that needed to be brought to wider attention.

He said doctors had told him he had fractures to his face and may need to undergo reconstructive surgery.

There have been a number of reports of racist incidents relating to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, including verbal abuse, attacks with eggs and bullying at schools.

On Tuesday, the University of Oxford vice-chancellor Louise Richardson sent an email to staff, warning: “Many of our Chinese and other Asian students and staff have felt isolated or even suspect, especially when wearing face masks. This is a time for us to come together as a community and to support not shun one another.”