The apparently racially motivated attack last week on a Portugal soccer fan as he left a bar is a sad statement on a multicultural society that supposedly celebrates its diversity.

That a Police investigation into the attack has barely begun is an indictment on a Police Service that should be protecting all the residents of this community.

It is not at all clear at this point whether the attack was premeditated or a situation that spiralled out of control.

But it is a disgrace in this community that a football fan cannot watch his team play in a public place without fearing for his life when he leaves the premises.

That is the situation that Rui Medeiros now finds himself in and the same may well be true for hundreds of other people.

Mr. Medeiros is apparently a quiet and law-abiding man, the part-owner of a business, a husband and the father of two children.

It seems clear that he did not go looking for trouble, but it found him and the Police should be making this case the highest possible priority.

Anything less is not good enough.