An Edinburgh retailer required hospital treatment after he and his brother were subjected to a racially motivated attack outside their Day-Today store on Thursday 23 January.
Nadeem and Mudassar Akbar were set upon by a gang of around 20 teenagers armed with crowbars and a kitchen knife in the car park of the Hay Convenience Store in the Niddrie area of the capital around 6.55pm.
Nadeem, 49, was left with a gaping head wound after being struck with a crowbar, while Mudassar, 38, was punched repeatedly in the face.
The cowardly attackers, who shouted racist obscenities at the pair, fled when a local resident intervened.
Police are treating the attack as a hate crime.
The brothers only took over the store five months ago. Mudassar said the youths had been responsible for a string of incidents over the last two months that included racist abuse, shoplifting, intimidating customers and vandalism.
Both men are NRFN members and the Federation responded angrily to news of their ordeal.
National President Stuart Reddish commented: “These incidents of attacks against independent retailers going about their business in their local communities is happening far too often.
“Last year, the government issued a call for evidence on the issue of violence against retailers. Today, I call on the government to publish their response so that we can start to work together to protect retailers in their stores.”
