Police are appealing for witnesses following a report of a racially-motivated assault in the Donegall Road area of south Belfast on Thursday evening, 15th May. 

A man aged in his 20s was walking home from work at around 10.25pm when he was approached by up to 15 teenagers at the junction of Pandora Street. 

Members of this group surrounded the man and "threw punches" at him which caused injury to his nose. After throwing a traffic cone in his direction, the attackers then stole his bike and made off down Prince Andrew Park. The bike was later recovered by police some distance away.

South Belfast Neighbourhood Inspector Róisín Brown said: This unprovoked attack on a young man going about his business is completely unacceptable. He has been left shaken and distressed, as well as sustaining an injury which required medical treatment.

"We are treating this as a racially-motivated hate crime. Hate crime has no place in our society and we will be proactive in our approach to ensure justice for victims. Our investigation is ongoing and local officers are working to identify those involved so that they can be held to account for their actions.

"We will continue to engage closely with partner agencies and local advocacy groups as our enquiries continue and we would appeal to anyone who might have any information which could assist us to bring these offenders to justice to get in touch via 101 quoting reference number 2059 of 15/05/25.

“We are particularly keen to view any footage available, whether that’s CCTV, doorbell or dash-cam as this would be helpful to our investigation.”

A report can also be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org