Bangalore: In a hate crime, three students from the North-East were assaulted for not knowing Kannada by three miscreants near Kothanur late on Tuesday night.

The incident triggered protests across the country, and brought back memories of a series of attacks on North-Easterners in the city two years ago that led to an exodus.

North-East student T. Michael Lanjathang Haokip, who is also president of the Thadu Manipuri Tribe Student Association, was sitting at a roadside eatery with his two friends – Rocky Kipgen and Ngamkholen Haokip – on Byrathi Cross Road. They were chatting in English when a group of local residents at the next table objected and demanded that the students speak in Kannada.

“You are eating Kannada food and living in Karnataka, why don’t you speak in Kannada? This is India not China,” the miscreants told them.

When Michael and his friends tried to reason with them, an argument ensued. The miscreants thrashed the students mercilessly, chased them and threw stones at them. A bleeding Michael ran to the Kothanur police station and narrated the incident to the policemen, who swung into action and arrested Arun Kumar (26) and James (23), both from Byrathi, and Karunakar (25), a resident of Gedanahalli.