A 27-YEAR-OLD Bridport man was taken to hospital with broken ribs and facial injuries after an alleged racial attack on Saturday night.

The police are appealing for witnesses to the alleged incident, which happened around midnight in East Street near the Bridport Kebab House.

Bridport Police Inspector Mike Darby said: “Three men had been drinking in town and had a disagreement in East Street when the victim, who is of Turkish descent, interacted with them.

“At which point it is alleged the three men attacked him and used racist language in the process.”

The victim suffered significant facial injuries and broken ribs in the alleged incident and was taken to Dorset County Hospital and kept overnight.

Insp Darby added: “These types of offences in Bridport are very rare despite the fact that we do have a significant minority ethnic community and different faiths living in West Dorset we pride ourselves as being very tolerant and very embracing of different cultures and beliefs.

“This type of offence is regarded as extremely serious in our eyes and we will robustly investigate and deal with offenders.”

The alleged attack was roundly condemned by town councillors.

Mayor Maggie Ray said: “Racially aggravated crimes are thankfully extremely rare in Bridport. Our town is an open and welcoming community which respects everyone’s rights equally.

“I wish the victim a speedy recovery and am confident that the police will speedily track down his attackers and bring them to justice.”

Town council leader Sarah Williams said: “Racial attacks of this nature are luckily rare in Bridport but should not be tolerated at any time.

“It is not something we want to have in our town.”

Cllr Dave Rickard, who is on the Neighbourhood Community Justice Panel, said: “It is not behaviour we expect or want to see in Bridport.”

He said in the next year the Bridport Democracy Project was looking at having a Citizen’s Charter for Bridport, linking in with the United Nations Rights Respecting work pupils were doing in schools.

He said: “It is relevant. The community justice panel, which started in Bridport, is rolling out nicely where there is mediation between the victim and culprit. So there is a lot of stuff going on under the surface.

“It is about education that society doesn’t tolerate this sort of stuff.

“It is not just that it is against the law it is about it not being the sort of town we want to live in. It is everyone’s responsibility.”

Three men, aged 49, 35 and 22, all from Bridport, have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm and are currently on bail.