'Despicable' - President Michael D Higgins slams recent attacks on Indian community in Ireland

President Michael D Higgins has condemned the recent spate of attacks on the Indian community in Ireland calling them "despicable".

In a statement, the Irish president said,

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"That any person in Ireland, particularly any young person, should be drawn into such behaviour through manipulation or provocation is to be unequivocally condemned.

"Whether such provocation stems from ignorance or from malice, it is essential to acknowledge the harm that it is causing. Such acts diminish all of us and obscure the immeasurable benefits the people of India have brought to the life of this country.

"That shared human experience should remain at the heart of how we treat those who have come to make their lives here. To forget that is to lose a part of ourselves."

The presidents comments come following attacks on several people in the Indian community living in Ireland, including a six-year-old girl who was attacked by a gang of youths in Waterford last week where she was punched and told to "go back to India".

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On Monday the Ireland India Council announced that it would be cancelling the India Day Festival that was to be held at Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park this weekend amid fears over their safety.

Earlier today, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin also condemned the attacks calling them "completely and utterly despicable".

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Archbishop Dermot Farrell said it was a small number of people across Ireland who are making life "exceedingly difficult" for members of the Indian community and it was time to call out those who "peddle racial hatred".

The Archbishop added that he intends to write to all parishes and parish councils to ask them for support in supporting the Indian community and that he will also write to schools across Ireland to help bring about "good integration within communities".