Spanish tourists attacked for being foreign in York

BRITISH police are hunting for a group of men that brutally attacked a Spanish couple on holiday in York for being foreign.

The case is being treated by police in York, one of Britain’s most historic tourist cities, as a racially aggravated assault.

The 24-year-old Spanish man, who has yet to be named, was repeatedly punched and kicked for about 10 minutes after leaving a bar near The Shambles, one of Britain’s most visited streets.

Shocked witnesses reported that while one attacker laid into the man, the rest of the group held his 29-year-old girlfriend down.

The man was saved from further injuries by a passing taxi driver who stopped to help, but spent hours in hospital with a broken jaw, chipped teeth and extensive bruising.

“This is a very disturbing incident which will quite rightly shock the local community in York and those who regard the city as a friendly and safe place to visit,” said PC Sophie Wilson of North Yorkshire Police. “We are providing support to the young couple from Spain who have had their stay tarnished in the most sickening and vicious way.”

York police are calling for anyone who witnessed the attack and in particular the taxi driver, who later disappeared, to step forward and help find the five attackers, who were described as white, in their early to mid 20s, with short or shaven hair and English accents.