New witnesses in 'racist' death

Mohammed Al-Majed had told his uncle he feared for his safety

Several new witnesses have come forward with information about a suspected racially-motivated attack which led to the death of a Qatari student.

Detectives and local uniformed officers from Hastings in East Sussex returned to the scene of the attack on 16-year-old Mohammed Al-Majed on Friday night.

It was exactly a week after the incident outside a kebab take-away which left him with head injuries.

Mohammed died in hospital in London two days after the assault.

The police team was on Hastings seafront between 2230 BST and 0030 BST seeking potential witnesses who may have been there at the same time on 22 August.

Insp Martin Mann said several people had given them more information.

"We are going to continue with high visibility patrols tonight, and as long as we perceive it to be necessary," he said.

Mohammed was with friends near the USA Fried Chicken and Kebab House when a row started with a group of local teenagers.

Police said he died from injuries caused by falling and hitting his head on the ground.

A student at the EF International Language Schools in White Rock, Mohammed had spent five weeks in the town learning English.

'Bad situation'

His uncle, Ghazi Abdullah al-Majed, told the BBC on Thursday that his nephew had complained about hostility towards Arabs in the town.

Mr al-Majed said he would advise other Arab families against sending their children to England.

"There is a very bad situation now, not only for Qataris, but for all Arabs," he said.

Hastings has up to 35,000 overseas students at its colleges each year and has undergone a multi-million pound regeneration project to get rid of its tarnished image as a downtrodden resort.

Community leaders, who held talks early on Thursday, insisted it was not a racist town.

But Hastings and Rye MP Michael Foster admitted there was a "significant minority" who were racist, who were encouraged by extremist groups.

Following the attack on Mohammed, three men - two aged 18 and one aged 20 - and a 17-year-old youth were arrested and bailed.