South Wales police treating bus assault as antisemitic hate crime

South Wales police are treating as a hate crime after a man was assaulted on a Barry to Cardiff bus in an apparent antisemitic attack.

The alleged incident, on Monday, happened when the 38-year-old man’s mother was asked by a couple who were being “loud and vulgar” where she was from and she answered Israel, the Walesonline website reported.

South Wales Police they are treating the incident as a hate crime. A spokeswoman said a 38-year-old man required hospital treatment for facial injuries sustained during the incident.

Officers have made arrangements to speak to the victim and witnesseses to obtain further information.

An eyewitness, Sonya Ataou, said the other passengers defended the mother and her son. Sonya’s son Eitan helped to remove the woman from the bus.

Sonya told Walesonline: “My son is autistic and he was on his way to college when a couple at the back of the bus were being loud and vulgar.

“People told the man to be quiet and he started shouting at people on the bus.

“He went up to the boy and said ‘where are you from?’.

“He then started verbal anti-Semitic abuse.

“Everyone on the bus was standing up for the boy.

“The driver stopped the bus and told them to get off. The guy left the bus but the woman went for the boy. She hit him in the head and he was bleeding.

“My son then pushed her off the bus.

“It is not like him because he is against violence in any form but he was so upset with what he saw.”