Students attacked by terror gang

A GANG of up to 15 youths have been pinpointed by police as terrorising foreign students with racial abuse.

Over the last two weeks there have been at least two robberies and three other racially motivated attacks on German students walking in London Road.

The gang have been robbing, cornering and attacking students in what police describe as racial attacks. Sergeant Trish Reeve-Fowkes spoke of "mindless action" by the troublemakers.

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She said: "When they see these students walking past them, the group run out of the playground, terrorising the students and chasing them up the road usually towards Buxton Drive where they corner them and carry out these offences."

The group includes boys and girls aged between 12-16 years. Although individuals have not been identified, police have obtained good descriptions from the students and they intend to arrest the offenders in the near future.

Last July, Bexhill Police were successful in gaining a conviction for a similar offence by flying witnesses back to England to testify. The message was clear: these incidents will not be forgotten when students go home. Sue Seymour, of Europartners Language School, said the majority of students currently in Bexhill are German, as French students cancelled at the beginning of the war due to fear of terrorism or racial aggression. "I don't think the attacks are strictly linked to their nationality, I think it is just bad feeling to foreign visitors." she said.

"It is such a sad thing and so disappointing when we work so hard with the Police through Bexhill Overseas Student Advisory Committee to keep students safe.

"Every host family affected has been absolutely incensed by this."

Information can be passed to PS Reeve-Fowkes confidentially at Bexhill Police Station, on 0845 60 70 999.