‘Racist’ clash claims at popular Sydney spot

Police have launched an appeal for information following an alleged racist encounter at a popular location in Sydney’s CBD.

Police have launched an appeal for information following an alleged racist encounter between customers at a bustling location in Sydney’s CBD.

Police claim that racial insults were hurled at a mother in front of her toddler at the Starbucks inside the Queen Victoria Building on George Street on the morning of June 16.

They are searching for two women who may be able to assist with their investigation.

Video footage of the altercation has circulated on social media, however none of the alleged racist allegations have been captured on video.

The woman who filmed the video and shared it to social media – who asked not to be identified by name – told news.com.au she was with her four-year-old son, and the rest of her family at the time.

“Walking with a toddler, it was probably a bit slow. They got really annoyed, so I said sorry to them,” she recounted.

She pulled out her phone and started filming after the pair – apparently upset with the speed she was walking – allegedly started to hurl racial slurs at the family, such as pulling their eyes into a slant and calling out “ching chong”.

The woman told news.com.au she is an immigrant who has lived in Australia for 10 years with her family.

Police have launched an appeal for information following an alleged racist encounter at a high-class Sydney location.

“I said, ‘Excuse me, are you OK?’ Instead of apologising, they made this awful, mocking eye gestures and mocked my accent. They told me to go back to my country,” she alleged.

“They also gave me the middle finger.”

None of these allegations were captured in the video footage that the woman shared to social media.

The mother said she wished she started filming earlier to capture the entire alleged ordeal.

The video footage began with the woman confirming she is an immigrant while one of the opposing women made a rude hand gesture, blowing kisses and waving. All three women involved in the encounter were filming.

“You’re just being racist, calling me Asian,” the woman said in the video.

“But don’t be a racist because you guys are immigrants. The first people in Australia were Aboriginal. We are immigrants you need to be respectful.”

One of the women repeatedly tried to talk over the woman and appeared to pretend to either not understand or hear what she had to say.

“I’m posting you on social media,” one of the opposing women said.

The woman said she was “shocked” because in the 10 years she had lived in Sydney, it was her first encounter with racism.

Police claim that racial insults were thrown at a family on Sunday morning at 11am. They are searching for two women who may be able to assist with their investigation.

“I’ve heard stories about this, but not in the city of Sydney, where it’s so multicultural. There’s so many Asian people everywhere in the city. I was so shocked,” she told news.com.au.

It prompted the woman to ask if the other women were even from Sydney, which resulted in one of the women pulling out her wallet and claiming her Australian passport was inside.

The woman said it was nobody’s right to tell her where she should be just because of her background as an Asian woman, saying she pulled her phone out to start filming to make people aware that racism does exist in Sydney.

“I needed to stand up for myself and make people aware, they have no right to abuse people because of their ethnicity,” she said.

She said it made her worry about her son’s future, saying she never wanted her little boy to face something like this just because of his background. Since uploading the video, the woman said she hasn’t been able to find the women. All she wants is an apology, and then she will remove the clip.

“It’s really affected me, which is why I posted on social media. I’ve heard so many stories,” she said.

news.com.au reached out to Starbucks for comment regarding the alleged incident however at the time of publishing they are yet to respond.

Originally published as ‘Racist’ clash claims at popular Sydney spot