5 October 2000 Edition
Asian told leave or die
A ``living hell'' is how restauranteur Aftab Ahmad has described his last year. The racist abuse Aftab has suffered reflects the increasing incidence of racist abuse, threats and assaults that are becoming a regular occurrence in Ireland.
Aftab and his Dublin wife Frieda opened the Tandoori Empire restaurant in Brownstown on the Curragh, County Kildare over a year ago. Initially the business was doing well with several local people employed by Aftab in the restaurant. Of late though harassment, much of it racist, has left their nerves shattered.
In what seems to be an orchestrated campaign against Aftab and his wife, slogans have been daubed on the restaurant walls, phantom delivery orders have been phoned in regularly and drunken louts have taken to standing at the door shouting abuse at the customers and the staff. On several occasions these louts have urinated on the doorstep.
The front lights were purposely broken and recently graffiti appeared on the window of the restaurant, threatening that they must ``Leave or Die''. Poor response from the Gardaí has meant that nobody is around by the time they arrive on the scene.
Aftab said that other than the fact that he was tied to a five year lease and that he'd invested a lot of money in setting up the business, he would have left the area long ago.
Aftab and his Dublin wife Frieda opened the Tandoori Empire restaurant in Brownstown on the Curragh, County Kildare over a year ago. Initially the business was doing well with several local people employed by Aftab in the restaurant. Of late though harassment, much of it racist, has left their nerves shattered.
In what seems to be an orchestrated campaign against Aftab and his wife, slogans have been daubed on the restaurant walls, phantom delivery orders have been phoned in regularly and drunken louts have taken to standing at the door shouting abuse at the customers and the staff. On several occasions these louts have urinated on the doorstep.
The front lights were purposely broken and recently graffiti appeared on the window of the restaurant, threatening that they must ``Leave or Die''. Poor response from the Gardaí has meant that nobody is around by the time they arrive on the scene.
Aftab said that other than the fact that he was tied to a five year lease and that he'd invested a lot of money in setting up the business, he would have left the area long ago.