A HONG Kong woman has spoken of her fear after she was attacked on a Southampton street in broad daylight.

The 23-year-old woman was one of four people who were allegedly attacked by Chinese students on Burgess Road following a protest in the city centre.

She and her boyfriend were left with bruises and scratch marks following the assault on Sunday.

The victim said that a group of four Hong Kong nationals had gone to a protest at the Bargate to support political prisoners from the city being held by the Chinese government.

Daily Echo: @whyyoutouzhele@whyyoutouzhele (Image: @whyyoutouzhele)

The group then went to lunch at a restaurant on Burgess Road when they noticed a man taking photos of them from another table.

They decided to leave the restaurant when the man followed them outside and began asking them questions about one of the women's t-shirts which said: "Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong."

The victims claim they were then attacked by Chinese students from the University of Southampton, holding the Chinese flag.

"I suddenly heard a loud noise and saw someone was coming towards us so I turned my head," she told the Echo.

Daily Echo: A photo of the bruises one victim sustained in the attack. A photo of the bruises one victim sustained in the attack. (Image: Anonymous)

"Two men got out of a car and ran towards us, one of them was holding the flag of China.

"They kept shouting 'Hong Kong is China' and some foul language in Chinese.

"One of the attackers was holding my boyfriend’s neck so I was trying to push them away and help, and that's why they started to attack me."

The man who initially quizzed them in the restaurant then filmed the assault, which was uploaded to the WeChat messaging service - a Chinese state-controlled platform.

She said: "We believed that it was an organised attack, that’s why it was so scary.

"I wasn’t expecting this type of incident [to] happen in this country.

"Hong Kongers came here for the freedom of speech and the freedom of beliefs."

The group tried to call the police and eventually reported the attack online.

Daily Echo: A photo of the scratches one victim sustained in the attack. A photo of the scratches one victim sustained in the attack. (Image: Anonymous)

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said they received a report of a 'hate-related assault' on Sunday afternoon, at around 4.25pm, and asked witnesses to report information quoting the reference number 44230231581.

The incident has left the community shocked after a video was posted to Twitter of the attack which got more than 1.5 million views.

One Southampton resident, a 22-year-old woman from the Southampton HongKongers group, said: "We would really like the police to take this seriously.

"Hong Kong people fled to the UK to get away from this treatment.

"People are really very scared in my community."

A University of Southampton spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the footage circulating on social media and are investigating.

“The university condemns violence of any kind and respects everyone’s right to free speech.

“As this matter has now been reported to the police, it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”