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Protesting against the stabbing of an Indian student who was working as a taxi driver, dozens of cabbies on Wednesday took off their shirts and blocked a busy intersection in Melbourne, disrupting vehicular movement.
Shouting 'we want justice' and 'shame, shame Victoria police', some among the several hundred drivers took off their shirts in a freezing morning today, media reports said.
Agitating cabbies, who want the government to take swift action, have also come up with several demands, including compensation for the cabbie and severe punishment for the offender.
The drivers also want driver safety screens, pre-paid taxi rides, special protection at certain railway stations and suburbs after hours, and more help from police. They said they would march through the city today to demand a meeting with Transport Minister Lynne Kosky.
The rally came after a 23-year-old Indian taxi driver was stabbed in Melbourne early on Tuesday. He was stabbed several times in the chest, reportedly by a passenger, and left to die.
The Indian, who was lying injured for over two hours, was found at 6 am local time. He was disoriented and hypothermic. He was found near a hotel in Clifton Hill, several hundred metres from his smashed car and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
On Tuesday night, the police released video images of the attack and arrested one 45-year-old Parish Charles.
Expressing sympathy towards the victim's family, Harpreet Singh, an Indian taxi operator, said, "Many Indian students work as taxi drivers as they can earn good money and raise their university fee. It is sad to see how these students become the target."
"These students are new to the place and do not know anything about the place and the people they are carrying. I think Indian students should not be allowed to drive cabs," Singh added.
Image: Cabbies protest against the attack on an Indian taxi driver, who was stabbed and left to die, in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images