Three arrested after alleged racially motivated attack on Muslim religious leader in Victoria

Victorian police allege that three people in a black hatchback hurled objects and drove dangerously to force a Muslim religious leader and his wife off the road. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Three people have been arrested after a Muslim leader was allegedly forced from his car on a Melbourne freeway and punched in the face in what police say was a racially motivated attack.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina Islamic Society in Noble Park said its leader, Imam Ismet Purdic, and his wife who was also allegedly forced from the car, had suffered “profound trauma” as a result.