The security camera video was shocking in its brutality. A 65-year-old Filipino immigrant was walking down a street near Times Square when a man, in broad daylight, suddenly kicked her in the stomach
She crumpled to the sidewalk. He kicked her once in the head. Then again. And again. He yelled an obscenity at her, according to a police official, and then said: "You don't belong here."
As the violent scene unfolded in Manhattan, three men watched from the lobby of a nearby luxury apartment building. When the woman struggled to stand up, one of the men, a security guard, closed the front door to the building.
Even as reports of anti-Asian hate crimes escalated in recent weeks, the video released by police officials on Monday (March 29) evening touched a fresh nerve. The sheer brazenness of the attack - combined with the seeming indifference of the bystanders - caused another wave of fear for many Asian Americans already worn down by a steady drumbeat of assaults.
"This feels like an emergency happening in real time over weeks," said Mr Chris Kwok, a board member of the Asian American Bar Association of New York. "People are in a state of panic. Everybody is on edge."
As the video went viral online, the attack provoked a torrent of condemnation from public officials and seemed to underscore the difficulty the government faces in curbing unprovoked assaults against Asian Americans.
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