DUBLIN

AS THOUSANDS OF INDIANS living in Ireland cower in fear after a spate of savage racist attacks on their fellow citizens, back home on the sub-continent there have been calls for India to boycott Irish goods in protest at what some are calling the seeds of a “genocide” against its citizens living on the European island.

Ireland exports close to a billion euros worth of goods to India each year. Recently, exports have begun to slide. It is not known if the attacks have had anything to do with the figures.

Observers have noted that the official Irish response to the attacks has not been as forceful as Indians might like it to be.

“Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group,” says John Harrison of the Zero Tolerance League, a charity that assists minority groups in danger of persecution. “What is happening to Indians in Ireland smacks of the beginnings of such action against the sub-continental community there. And the Irish Government seems slow in dealing with it. Perhaps if they were Palestinians, some Indians are saying privately … Hamas, even… Ireland might get muscular.

“Remember, the Nazis began with physical beatings first. Next comes isolation. Then, if the community doesn’t leave as it is expected to, that’s when the destruction starts.”