Kaunas international community concerned after racist attack

Lithuania is a very calm and peaceful country, as far as international students studying in its universities are concerned, so I was really surprised to discover about incidents of violence based on ethnic, national, racial and religious.

There may be incidents happening every now and then, but still we had not yet hear anything looked serious.

However, one racist incident involving a Nigerian student happened near the Basement bar/club in Kaunas where two Lithuanian guys and one girl attacked him with a knife. The Nigerian student is still in hospital. This is really serious and we have to think and take some action, because such incidents may defame the country, which is not yet in the spotlight at the international level for such type of racist crimes.

I urge all international students and people who live in Lithuania not to have bad notions about the country just because of the some bad people. We already know that Lithuanians are really helpful and warm people and if we are good to them, they will return their best. There is no country where such incidents have not occurred, but we have to be careful and ready to contact the police in case of anything bad happening.

My name is Kumar Anubhav Tiwari and I am from India. I came here to complete my Research/PhD at Kaunas University of Technology and although job opportunities are very limited for international people, I have got a job as a lecturer at Kaunas University of Technology. It means that there are no barriers for people who have potential and they do not discriminate against people based on nationality or race.

Finally, I would like to say to all my Lithuanian friends that if you want to show your attitude to international people, show love and peace and this way you will not only raise the reputation of yourselves, but of your country as well. Please do not degrade our country, Lithuania, by doing stupid things.

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Kumar Anubhav Tiwari is a lecturer at the Department of Multimedia Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology.

The attack he refers to happened in the early hours on November 28, in a parking lot on Vilniaus Street, Kaunas. According to a police report, a man armed with a knife attacked a 26-year-old Nigerian national and injured him in the neck.