Police are seeking a suspect after an Asian woman was injured in a hate crime attack on a city bus late last month.
The 51-year-old woman was on a city bus in the Bronx on March 28 when an unidentified woman and three teenage girls began making anti-Asian comments to her, police said. The woman then attacked her, hitting her on the head with an umbrella, before fleeing the bus, police said.
The woman was taken to a hospital nearby, where she received stitches.
Three 15-year-old girls were charged with hate crime assaults, menacing and harassment shortly after the incident. The police department's Hate Crime Task Force is seeking the woman.
Asians around the world have reported an increase in xenophobic incidents during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus sent a letter on Feb. 26 urging colleagues to "help prevent hysteria, ignorant attacks and racist assaults" against Asian Americans resulting from misinformation about the coronavirus.
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Authorities around the globe have spoken out against anti-Asian sentiments in recent weeks, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
"Right now, we've seen particularly troubling instances of discrimination directed at Asian communities, particularly in the Chinese community," de Blasio said last month. "This is unacceptable."