Dutch-Chinese woman attacked after asking others to stop singing coronavirus-song

A 24-year-old Dutch-Chinese woman was attacked in the elevator on the way to her student flat in Tilburg after she asked a group of young people to stop singing a racist song about the coronavirus at her. Cindy was left with a concussion and several cuts, she said to RTL Nieuws.

The incident happened on Saturday night. The group started singing the Radio 10 song 'Voorkomen is beter dan Chinezen' - a play on the saying 'prevention is better than cure', in which the Dutch word for 'cure' is replaced with the Dutch word for 'Chinese'.

Cindy told them that the song is discriminatory. "I asked the group if they wanted to cut it out. But then it suddenly got out of hand. They pushed me and the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor in the hall," she said to the broadcaster. "I have a concussion, a bump on my head, and likely with a knife they cut me on my chest and on my stomach. They said they wanted to eradicate the coronavirus."

She reported the incident to the police, and the police confirmed to the broadcaster that they registered a report of assault and threats.

Cindy is surprised that a comment about the song led to her being attacked. "I think these guys are also shocked by what they did. They must be waking up with a hangover," she said. "I want to talk to them. This is just hate and I don't understand where it comes from."

"The song is super hurtful. I see around me what the coronavirus is doing to Chinese people: restaurants have less business, it encourages people to racism," Cindy said.