Man half-blinded in racist attack

Police say the attackers shouted racial abuse

A Somalian man has lost the sight in one eye after being battered with an iron bar in what police say was "a brutal racially-aggravated attack".

Scotland Yard officers are hunting for four white men.

The 40-year-old victim was attacked in Mare Street in Hackney, east London, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He was taken to an east London hospital where his condition was described as serious but stable.

Multiple injuries

Police said the man, from Bethnal Green, was approached by four white men who asked him for a cigarette.

A police spokesman said the victim refused and the men started shouting racial abuse at him.

"The victim was punched and kicked to the ground and beaten with what we believe to be a metal bar or pole," he said.

Police said the victim was left lying on the pavement with multiple injuries to his face, head and body.

He was found by a passer-by who called for an ambulance at 0500 GMT.