Australian senator racially abused

An Australian senator on Thursday criticised "the rise of the radical right" after he was racially abused by a group of men at a pub in Melbourne.

Senator Sam Dastyari, who was born in Iran, was harassed on Wednesday night with taunts calling him a "terrorist" and "little monkey", reports the BBC.

The incident was filmed and posted on the Facebook page of a group describing themselves as "concerned patriots".

In the footage, the senator is surrounded at a bar and told by one man to "go back to Iran, you terrorist", among other taunts.

Dastyari says: "I think you guys are a bunch of racists. You are embarrassing yourself."

Footage taken later shows the men standing over the senator as he is seated with friends, who step in to help the senator.

One man who approached Dastyari, Neil Erikson, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the senator "called us rednecks, which is a racist term in fact".

In September, Erikson was one of three men found guilty by a magistrate of inciting contempt of Muslims after the men staged a mock beheading to protest against the building of a mosque.

The state of Victoria has laws making it illegal to vilify a person or group on the basis of their race or religion.

--IANS

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