A South Korean student has told how she was beaten by up to 10 thugs in an alleged race hate attack on Oxford Street.

Mary Lee, a student at university in Canterbury, was allegedly targeted by a gang of people who violently attacked her as she was sightseeing in Oxford Street earlier this month.

The 22-year-old, who has lived in the UK for around three years while studying illustration and animation, suffered swelling and bruises after the attack, which police believe is racially motivated.

Scotland Yard said it is investigating a report of a racially aggravated assault on Oxford Street.

Speaking about her experience, Miss Lee said she was visiting London with a friend when a group of strangers starting throwing rubbish at her at around 5.50pm on November 11.

When she asked them to stop, Miss Lee claims one girl in the group approached her, remarking on the fact she could speak English before continuing to throw rubbish towards her head.

Admitting she impulsively threw one of the pieces of rubbish back in their direction, the South Korean student said she was then “pushed to the ground” by one member of the group.

She said: “After falling around 10 people came up to me and started beating me up. I tried to stand back up but a girl pushed me to the floor again and started punching me in the face.

“They also started kicking me on the floor. They all seemed like teenagers, but they were all so much taller than me. One of the tallest guys struck me down and carried on punching my face.

“I remember shouting ‘this is the 21st century, stop being racists’ and I kept screaming as there was not much I could do while I was getting beaten up by a group of 10 people.”

Miss Lee said she has been left with “vivid memories” of almost losing consciousness after a white male around 6ft tall punched her in the face for the final time before the group made off.

She said two strangers came to help her while others nearby stood around and filmed the attack, which lasted about six minutes before they fled in the direction of McDonald’s.

Nearly three weeks later, tens of thousands of people have rallied behind the student as part of an online petition, which Miss Lee launched to raise awareness about hate crime in the capital and to try to prevent it happening again.

Speaking to the Standard, Miss Lee said she felt grateful for the support she has received but also called for people to stop recording violent attacks instead of helping victims.

She said: “I think we have to talk about this situation, it’s not okay. I have met a lot of nice people in this country and I know bad people are everywhere, but racism shouldn’t exist at this point.

“I really appreciate all of the people who have sent me messages and encouraged me. I also feel sad about lots of Asian girls saying they have had similar experiences as me.

“I want to say to the people who attacked me that I will be okay and you won’t be okay. You guys hate other people without any reason and it will make you destroy yourself.”

Nearly 30,000 people have now signed the change.org petition, with hundreds of people leaving supportive messages for Miss Lee, who was left with swelling and bruises after the attack.

One wrote: “A disgrace to our country that children are still being brought up to behave in this way. Their parents should be ashamed of them and of themselves, and they of themselves.”

“I am truly sorry this happened to you. The world needs brave women like you who speaks out even if at the moment you feel so small,” another wrote.

In the petition, Miss Lee also criticised Scotland Yard’s response to the attack, suggesting she had called police four times after reporting the crime online.

"They kept repeating the same response - they said they would look into the estimated arrival time, I’ll call you back, but they didn’t show up after all," she said.

A police spokesman confirmed they received a report of an alleged racially aggravated assault in Oxford Street on November 11.

"The female complainant alleges she had rubbish thrown at her by a group of people before being physically assaulted. The complainant received minor injuries," he said.

"Due to the comments made during the incident, this is being looked at as a potentially racially aggravated assault. There have been no arrests and enquiries continue."

Scotland Yard has been approached for further comment.