'I'm not serving you guys': Young African immigrants claim racism is on the rise
Young African immigrants living in Adelaide’s northern suburbs claim they’re often denied service at restaurants and refused access to public transport.
They claim they’re vilified on a daily basis and that racism is rife and on the rise.
Held on the ground with her arms pinned behind her back, footage shows Athok Yuat screaming at police, protesting her innocence.
The 16-year-old claims officers were heavy handed but it's what led to the arrest that has her seething.
The teenager says staff at the Munno Para McDonald's had refused to serve her and her friends.
“He came over to us, he's like I'm not serving you guys,” she told 7 News.
“We started being loud and then he didn't give us a warning or anything he just started to call the police, he didn't ask us to leave."
But McDonald’s claims Athok and her friends were asked to leave, because their behaviour was anti-social, adding that any "allegation of discrimination is completely untrue".
Athok was released from police custody without charge.
Meanwhile other African immigrants have also claimed they're often refused entry onto public buses and trains.
A recent example, at Broadmeadows in Melbourne last month, was captured on camera.
Lual Biar can be heard asking the question “is this train really gonna leave us because we’re black?”.
Asked by 7 News why he thought he and his friends were left on the platform late at night, Mr Biar was forthright with his response.
“I think it’s because of our skin colour basically,” he said.
The Transport Department has confirmed the train did in fact leave the station without picking up any passengers but said that's because police had contacted the driver minutes earlier, alerting him to a fight involving a group of people on the platform.
“None of us had a fight, we all are friends and that's what we do, we just hang out as friends and then they just see criminals,” Mr Biar added.
