AFP

Melbourne, May 15: Authorities in Australia will launch a telephone helpline Friday for Indian students who have been the target of a wave of violent  attacks in the southern city of Melbourne.

Victoria state police said the helpline, which will have operators who speak both Hindi and English, had been established after consultation with the local Indian community.

It follows a series of assaults on students from the sub-continent in Australia's second largest city, which the Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) says were at least partially racially motivated.

"Discrimination is always there," FISA president Amit Menghani said.

"Indian students are being targeted and attacked. The level of crime is increasing and it's a concern for the student community."

Police estimate Indians make up 30% of robbery victims in Melbourne's western suburbs and set up a community liaison group in January to examine the issue after an armed robbery in a convenience store left an Indian man in a coma.

They have also boosted numbers on a robbery taskforce in Melbourne's western suburbs and are considering sending officers to Indian cities to educate Australia-bound students about how to minimise the risk being attacked.

But police have played down any racial motive for the attacks, saying the Indian students, who often work late shifts to support their studies, were often in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"While Victoria Police acknowledges the Indian community are over-represented as victims, there is no evidence to support Indians are targeted or vilified because of their ethnicity," Inspector Scott Mahony said at the launch of the community liaison group in January.

"Sometimes, it is just a combination of timing and chance.

"A number of offenders are opportunists who take advantage of time, circumstances and opportunity. An example of this is targeting people when they are alone, particularly late at night."