'I was attacked by teenagers while visiting Edinburgh for the first time - I feel too scared to come back'
Yumin Chen said she believes the attack may have been racially motivated after several other victims contacted her about similar incidents
A young female tourist who was punched by a mob of teenagers in Princes Street Gardens on Friday evening has said she now believes Edinburgh is “too dangerous” after she heard about other Chinese and Asian people who had experienced similar attacks in the city.
Yumin Chen, who is a student at the University of Southampton, was visiting Edinburgh for the first time with her sister when the pair were approached by five teenagers while queuing to take a picture beside the ‘Soldier Bear’ statue.
“The teenagers randomly came towards us shouting the F word,” said the 23-year-old. “We were confused and didn’t know what was happening, so we didn’t move.
“One girl approached me first and then a boy came and made a circle around us. He tried to touch my sister or rob her phone, I don’t know what he wanted.
“I said ‘don’t touch my sister’ and then he punched me in the face. It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to react or do anything.”
Ms Chen - who also goes by the name Yomi - said she then became “mad” and tried unsuccessfully to fight back. “I’ve never fought anyone in my whole life so I didn’t know how,” she said. “I ended up just holding his hand to stop him from punching again.
“When it was happening I was just like, what? This is unbelievable.”
She said she couldn’t feel the pain at the time but quickly realised her nose was swollen. She immediately phoned 999 but struggled to understand what the call handler was saying due to English not being her first language.
A couple from Hong Kong who had witnessed the incident ended up helping her to translate and reply. The police later met her outside the National Galleries to get her details.
“I got really bad stomach cramps when I spoke to them and I burst into tears,” she said. “They didn’t ask me whether I needed any medical assistance.”
Later that evening after suffering a nosebleed, she decided to post a video on Instagram about her experience. “I felt helpless, I didn’t know how to ask for help to get medical treatment,” she said. “I live alone in the UK and my whole family is in China. I didn’t want to call them and worry my mum.”
The video ended up being watched by thousands of people and hundreds commented urging her to go the hospital, which she did the next day, and contact the police again.
Several people also contacted her with images and footage, including CCTV, of what is believed to be the same group of teenagers rampaging around Edinburgh and terrorising passers-by on other occasions.
The videos show the teenagers, who were wearing grey dressing gowns, stealing from a shop, abusing strangers and vandalising a bus on Nicolson Street.
She said numerous people came forward with reports of Chinese and Asian people being targeted.
“I didn’t realise I wasn’t the only person this had happened to, and that they were doing it to others. At first I thought it was random but when people starting contacting me I came to realise this was probably a racist attack,”.
She said she heard from one victim, a white man, who stepped in to help when he saw a Chinese man who was getting grabbed and kicked outside Waverley Station on Saturday. He said when the man got away the teenagers turned to punching, kicking and screaming at him.
There is also a video circulating online of an Asian woman being egged by a teenager on North Bridge.
“I now realise Edinburgh is super dangerous,” said Ms Chen. “After that first day, I didn’t go out again because I was too scared. If that was what they did the first time, maybe if they saw me a second time they would kill me.
“Edinburgh is nice and it’s different from Southampton but I now think it’s too dangerous. I probably won’t come back.
“I don’t want to ruin Edinburgh’s tourist economy but I think people’s lives are more important. That’s why I wanted to post about it to raise awareness and warn people to avoid them if they see them.
“This was in Princes Street Gardens in the city centre so tourists will always be there. The gardens are a famous spot and there’s lots of people there while Princes Street is closed.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 5:10pm on Friday, 31 July, 2026, we received a report of an assault on a woman in the Princes Street area of Edinburgh. The woman did not require any medical treatment.
"Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances."
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