{"id":383934,"date":"2026-04-17T08:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/383934\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:43:09","slug":"papatoetoes-indian-community-vents-anger-over-growing-anti-indian-sentiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/383934\/","title":{"rendered":"Papatoetoe\u2019s Indian community vents anger over growing anti-Indian sentiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Members<\/p>\n

\nMembers of the Indian community gather outside Papatoetoe Central School after graffiti inciting racial violence was found near the school last Saturday.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Blessen Tom\n<\/p>\n

Papatoetoe’s Indian community has voiced frustration at what appears to be growing anti-Indian sentiment in Auckland at a public meeting on Friday.<\/p>\n

The meeting was held following the discovery in Auckland of two separate incidents of graffiti inciting violence against the Indian community.<\/p>\n

About 50 people attended the meeting organised by the Papatoetoe \u014ctara Action Team, including police, politicians and members of the local Indian community.<\/p>\n

The first piece of anti-Indian graffiti was discovered on Saturday near Papatoetoe Central School<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police have arrested a 61-year-old Papatoetoe man<\/a> on charges related to the incident on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The accused appeared in the Manukau District Court facing two charges of intentional damage to a footpath, each carrying a maximum penalty of three months in prison or a $2000 fine.<\/p>\n

The man also faces a charge of behaving offensively in a public place, which carries a maximum $1000 fine. He has been released on bail.<\/p>\n

An identical message was also found inside a public toilet<\/a> on Campbell Road in Royal Oak.<\/p>\n

Jaspreet Kandhari, general secretary of the NZ Indian Business Association, said he was disturbed by the incident but also what he described as something reflecting a deeper undercurrent in society.<\/p>\n

“Recently, I attended an event where a study on migrant and ethnic groups and their contribution was launched,” Kandhari said.<\/p>\n

“One alarming trend was that many New Zealanders still do not like to see New Zealand as a diverse, migrant country.”<\/p>\n

Kandhari said such attitudes were concerning – particularly for diverse communities.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/p>\n

\nSouth Auckland’s Indian community came together at the India Diversity Centre in Papatoetoe on Friday to voice their concerns following recent incidents.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Blessen Tom\n<\/p>\n

Navtej Randhawa, who has lived in Papatoetoe for 25 years, said the community needed to step up, look inwards and help build bridges.<\/p>\n

“Yes, there is hate, there is discrimination and there are racial issues,” Randhawa said.<\/p>\n

“As a fourth-generation member of this community, I can say some of this feels worse.”<\/p>\n

He said the community needed to be part of the solution.<\/p>\n

“What are we doing to be part of the solution and help build a better society?” he asked.<\/p>\n

“For me, one word stands out: volunteer. Contribute to the wider good of the community and you will see better outcomes.”<\/p>\n

Fellow South Auckland resident Narinder Veer Singh raised concerns about the role of social media played in spreading hate and questioned whether authorities had plans in place to address those challenges.<\/p>\n

Naveed Hamid, chair of the Pakistan New Zealand Business Council, said ethnic communities needed to come together to push back against hate and racism.<\/p>\n

He said migrant communities made a significant contribution to New Zealand’s economy.<\/p>\n

“As a migrant community we are contributing around $60 billion to the New Zealand economy, which is not a small amount in a year,” he said.<\/p>\n

Kushma Nair, a Papatoetoe subdivision local board elect, questioned why some groups were allowed to spread hate and anti-Indian rhetoric under the guise of free speech.<\/p>\n

\"NZ<\/p>\n

\nNZ Counties Manukau West area commander Dave Christoffersen (left), Panmure-\u014ct\u0101huhu MP and Labour spokesperson for ethnic communities Jenny Salesa (middle) and ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar attended the meeting in Papatoetoe on Friday.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Blessen Tom\n<\/p>\n

Manurewa Local Board member Marshal Walia also raised concerns about increasing reports of bullying and racism faced by members of the Indian community in South Auckland.<\/p>\n

“We have attended many similar meetings, but my question is what are you going to do about these issues, and what are you going to tell those who are nervous about sending their children to school on Monday?” he asked.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the meeting, Counties Manukau West area commander Dave Christoffersen said he understood the concerns that were raised.<\/p>\n

“I feel your hurt and your fear as a result,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This was an appalling act that has no place in our community. Police take these matters seriously and we prioritise them, as was the case in this instance. As soon as it was escalated to me, an investigator was assigned straight away.”<\/p>\n

Christoffersen said school community police officers would be present on Monday to help reassure parents, staff and students.<\/p>\n

“We felt that was the best police response when school returns,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If parents, staff or students have any questions, they will see officers they are familiar with because they are already part of that school community.”<\/p>\n

Panmure-\u014ct\u0101huhu MP Jenny Salesa, Labour’s spokesperson for ethnic communities, said she hoped people across New Zealand would come together in support.<\/p>\n

“It is not okay,” she said. “It is unacceptable to have this kind of hateful crime.”<\/p>\n

Salesa said she had spoken at length with Papatoetoe Central School principal Raj Dullabh.<\/p>\n

“He was really worried about his students. \u2026 He said 78 percent of his students are from the Indian community,” she said.<\/p>\n

ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar urged individuals to call out anti-Indian sentiment whenever they encountered it.<\/p>\n

“It’s very important that people don’t decide to stay quiet,” Parmar said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the Indian community gather outside Papatoetoe Central School after graffiti inciting racial violence was found near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-383934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}