Community leaders have called the alleged bashing of Indian-born Ballarat man Sumeet Anand an isolated incident, saying the city has a welcoming culture overall.
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Mr Anand suffered brutal injuries in an alleged attack on Monday night in front of his family on the corner of Mair and Humffray streets.
A 35-year-old Ballarat man was arrested just before 6pm Wednesday.
He has been charged with assault related offences and remanded to appear at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court at a later date.
Fears that the alleged attack was fueled by race have ignited a widespread community debate on violence and racism in Ballarat.
But while a Courier poll indicated people feared Ballarat was racist, online discussion was unanimous in its condemnation of the violence and the community has quickly rallied behind the victim, Mr Anand.
Numerous residents have vowed to patronise Mr Anand’s restaurant in a show of support while others have set up crowd-funding to help the family.
Ballarat Indian Association president Xavier Mani said he met with Mr Anand and his family this week.
Mr Mani said he wanted to assure the Indian community not to panic, calling the incident a one-off attack.
“There is a little bit of anxiety in the community. We condemn these kinds of attacks but it’s nothing to be scared of,” Mr Mani said.
“I think Ballarat is a peaceful city and we don’t want to get in some kind of conclusion (about racism) based on a one-off incident.”
Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson said the next steps would be for the community to help police find the offenders.
“I would like to think that Ballarat is not a racist community,” Mayor Hudson said.
“But when we have a population near on 100,000 people, it’s not unusual to think there will be some people who do not exercise the same degree of tolerance or respect,” he said.
“My call to the community would be to work with the police to try and identify the offenders.”
The police have now turned to the public for help finding any witnesses to the attack, which saw Mr Anand in hospital with facial injuries.
Detective Sergeant Steve Howard from Ballarat CIU told The Courier CCTV cameras in the area had captured the alleged attack.
“But when we have a population near on 100,000 ... there will be some people who do not exercise the same degree of tolerance,”
- Mayor Hudson said
Detective Sergeant Howard said Mr Anand had stepped out of the passenger side of the car, which his wife was driving, before two men approached from the Mair Street direction. Anyone who can help with information relating to the incident is urged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppersvic.com.au.
