Apparently, two Goan youth were injured in the group clash that took place in the Southall, West of London, also known as Little India. There is no clear picture due to what the fight took place, but some sources suggested that the property in the hometown led to the scuffle.
The Southall neighbourhood of London has been in the news very often in the past few weeks for rising instances of crime. The most recent case of the violent outbreak was a fight between two groups of men who claimed to be Goan youths working in London!
The incident took place on Saturday, July 10 in the late hours of the evening. There was a fleet of police vehicles and ambulances that were seen rushing down a residential street in the Southall neighbourhood. Noticing the ruckus and confusion, most locals assumed it to have been a case of stabbing.
This was because 4 other cases of stabbing and attacks were reported in the neighbourhood in the past week. A source close to Goa Prism reported the sighting by filming a video of the NHS workers arriving at the location of the fight and transferring the injured parties into the vehicles.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “Police were called at 9.41 pm on Saturday, 10 July to reports of a group of people fighting in Albert Road, Southall.” The officers then attend along with the London Ambulance Service.
The authorities found two injured men who were taken to the hospital to receive treatment. Both their conditions were assessed as “non-life-threatening”, added the spokesperson.
However, given the chaos, the locals were convinced that a much more serious attack had taken place and that people may have been killed. The police spokesperson added that the enquiries were still in progress which is why no arrests had been made.
A source revealed that the brawl had taken place between two youths from Goa. Apparently, there was some argument and discontentment between the two over the issue of the boundary walls of their houses back home in Goa, where they lived adjacently. This is supposed to have flared into a bigger altercation that ultimately led them into a physical wrangle.
Nothing is known about the identity of the two youths. Upon news of the event, Goans poured out in disagreement at the actions of Goans outside the country, indulging in shameful behaviour and bringing disgrace upon the larger community.
In January this year, there were reports of the arrest of two Sikh men, Sukwir Singh, 22, and Lakha Singh, 29, under the charges of affray and threatening a person violently.
Apparently, they had broken into a skirmish with a blade/sharply pointed article in a public place. Both men are residents of the Southall neighbourhood, which is where the incident took place.
Such instances of Indian people entering into unlawful activities abroad has always been frowned upon by fellow ex-pats as well as Indians back home due to the fact that they often back false wrong prejudices and stereotypes about the Indian, rather South-Asian and other immigrants being menacing criminals.
This has played a big role in the prejudice and hostility in the policies as well as the minds of the natives towards the immigrant population.
Southall is a West London suburb that has earned the nickname ‘Little India’ owing to its large Asian population. While it is a model example of different cultures, backgrounds and faiths coexisting together, in recent days it has been making news with the incidents of crime.
