Immigrant shop owners terrorised in Newcastle
James Melesa is one of dozens of immigrant shopkeepers from Ethiopia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are living in fear in Osizweni, Newcastle.
A spate of violent robbery attacks on immigrant-owned shops has claimed the lives of two Bangladeshi businessmen in the past week, GroundUp reports.
Mosharaf Hosain, 33, and Limor Mir, 25, who worked as partners in a rented store in Osizweni Section C were stabbed to death during a robbery in the early hours of Thursday, October 25.
"We are foreign businessmen in a foreign country, and we are all now living in fear because we don't know what will happen next," said Melesa.
"We don't know when the attacks will stop, but we have no choice but to keep the business running, because this is our livelihood and our only source of income."