Irish celebrities have hit out at a group of young men who shoved a woman into a Dublin canal, after racist remarks.
Xuedan (Shelly) Xiong, who lives in Castleknock, was filmed being pushed into the Royal Canal while walking near Ashtown in Dublin on Friday evening.
A group of young men filmed the incident and share it on social media platform TikTok, before it was removed.
“I screamed and they laughed and then imitated my scream. They left me terrified,” she told the Irish Times.
“One of them looked me straight in the eyes and said ‘coronavirus’. I didn’t say anything, I was stunned and they winked at each other,” she added.
Stars like singers Gavin James and Brian Kenendy have taken to social media to demand justice, with many calling for the boys to be named and shamed.
Take a look:
As Imelda says. YOU DONT GET TO BE IRISH AND RACIST. Brave bunch of lads surrounding a girl on her own ??? You cowardly subhumans. Find them. Expose them. Punish them. EDUCATE THEM!! This is Not My Ireland. https://t.co/dCZ6HLC9rY
— Dr BRIAN KENNEDY (@KennedySinger) August 16, 2020
Decent people shocked by the racist assault on Shirley Xuedan Xiong – shoved into the canal. When Shirley reported it to An Garda Síochana she says “gardaí told me it was unlikely the teenagers involved would be found”. To curb racism we first need Gardaí to take it seriously. pic.twitter.com/BsfG51nzgw
— Gavin Duffy (@GavinDuffy) August 16, 2020
The fuck is this shit? Who are these lads ?
Please let’s find the scum who did this. https://t.co/iviSBnsncS
— Gavin James (@gavinjames) August 15, 2020
My heart goes out to the assaulted woman Shirley Xuedan Xiong. Make no mistake this was an assault.
I’ll be contacting Garda Commissioner this week on the Community Garda Program. This is far from the first assault case on the canal stretches. Let’s work to making it the last. https://t.co/XWehNaN40S
— Hazel Chu (@hazechu) August 15, 2020
The terms “scumbags” and “disgraceful” later trended on Twitter after the assault came to light.
