RACIST attacks on children are on the rise across Britain and Ireland, the Association of Indian Communists (AIC) has warned after a six-year-old girl in Waterford was punched and told she was a “dirty Indian” and to “go back to India.”

Nia Naveen, who was born in Ireland, was playing with friends outside her house in the town’s Kilbarry district when a gang of older boys rode up on bicycles. Five punched her and one rammed his bike into her crotch, causing intense pain, as they racially abused her, the family told the Irish Mirror.

“These incidents are becoming more frequent and happening in Britain and Ireland. We need to build on recent solidarity events. For us migrants, it’s an issue of survival,” a member of the AIC, an organisation for members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) living in Britain and Ireland, who knows the family told the Morning Star. “It’s not only applicable to refugees and asylum-seekers.”

The Indian Workers Association-Great Britain said: “This appalling act of violence against a vulnerable child is a stark reminder of the persistent undercurrents of racism that immigrant families continue to face across Europe.

“The child’s mother, a dedicated nurse who serves the community with professionalism and compassion, deserves the full respect and protection afforded to every front-line worker, not hostility rooted in prejudice.

“This incident reflects a serious failure in safeguarding and highlights the urgent need for robust anti-racist education across schools and communities. Hatred is not innate, it is learned from the environment around us.”