POLICE have been accused of "failing to investigate" a racist attack on a Glasgow taxi driver.
Campaigner and solicitor Aamer Anwar claimed the new national Scottish force had failed to follow up the assault of a private hire driver, two days after Drummer Lee Rigby was beheaded in a London street.
Officers attended after the driver reported that he had been attacked on Friday, May, 24 but Mr Anwar said they had not visited the alleged victim since.
Mr Anwar said: "Police Scotland have at best failed in their duty of care to the victim and at worst are guilty of institutional racism and systematic failure to investigate a serious crime of assault.
"The insensitive treatment of any victim of crime by police officers in such a manner is totally unacceptable."
Mr Anwar in a formal letter of complaint to the new force said the 36-year-old had been assaulted after being called to pick up a fare at a pub called La Cala in Dennistoun.
He said he had been racially abused, punched and kicked at outside the bar by three attackers, all whites aged around 25, using words such as "P***" and "Muslim".
The driver, Mr Anwar said, then tried to escape in his cab but was chased by the three men in another car. Eventually they collided with him. He said the attack was unprovoked and amounted to attempted murder.
The complaint confirmed that officers came to see the alleged victim after he made a 999 call. He was taken to hospital where, Mr Anwar said, he explained that his first language was Punjabi and that he was not able to explain what happened to him properly in English.
Mr Anwar said he feared those responsible for the crime would now escape justice, saying it had taken police three weeks to source CCTV of the incident
In his complaint, he wrote: "Following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby on the 22nd May 2013 and heightened racial tensions, we assume that officers would have been briefed to take a zero tolerance approach to racist behaviour."
Police Scotland said the complaint had been forwarded to chief constable Sir Steve House. A spokeswoman said: "Inquiries are continuing. We encourage the reporting of all hate crimes."
david.leask@ eveningtimes.co.uk
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