RECENT ATTACKS on students by locals have raised new fears for student safety, it has emerged.
RECENT ATTACKS on students by locals have raised new fears for student safety, it has emerged.
One incident involved a fresher being caught up in fight after defending another student.
He told Vision that a small amount of what may have been considered banter quickly escalated, leaving the victim “unaware of the danger he was getting himself into.”
When events turned sour the student was set upon by a group of at least six young locals, fresh from a night of drinking.
“From there on all I saw was fists and feet and pavement,” he told us. “My friend tried to pull one of them off me and got hit in the nose.”
The students were then escorted home by the police for their own safety.
A separate incident later that week saw a third year maths student viciously attacked while in the bathroom of popular nightclub Gallery.
“I’d never met or talked to this guy in my life and while I wee’ed he hit me in the face and ran off,” the student revealed.
“I told the bouncers and someone got thrown out. Although it was all sorted it ruined my night.”
The student also told us that he felt less secure in York now than he had previously: “York was a safe place but there is a lot more trouble around than when I started Uni.”
YUSU President Tim Ngwena played down the significance of these attacks and defended the relationship between York locals and its students.
“I think we have a good relationship with the local community” he said. “There are always more sides to every story. It may be that these attacks are nothing to do with the fact that they are students.”