A Muslim woman who wears the hijab described feeling rattled after a male lorry driver had thrown a hot cup of coffee at her car’s windscreen as a set of traffic lights turned green and drove off at speed.
The incident occurred on the morning of December 19.
Speaking to Tell MAMA (and wishing to remain anonymous), she believes the man had targeted her for no other reason than her religious clothing, adding that for several minutes earlier, the driver had driven aggressively, tailing her, and attempting to overtake on the A40 in London.
She was able to clean the coffee from her windscreen with the wipers, noting that she had, thankfully, not left her window open.
And, with their consent, Tell MAMA reported the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic incident to the Metropolitan Police.
Before speaking with our casework team, she had been unaware that such an incident, which may seem, in her words, ‘trivial’ to some, was, in fact, dangerous and left her feeling rattled, and it was also something she could report to the police.
To raise awareness about what exactly a hate crime is (and is not), Tell MAMA, in partnership with the Community Security Trust, and the Crown Prosecution Service, published a free booklet titled ‘Hate Crime: a guide for those affected’.
What is a hate crime? We interviewed some who’ve experienced it and ask what can be done and understand the structural barriers as to why it remains so underreported. pic.twitter.com/2RdfYcBFDV
— Tell MAMA UK (@TellMamaUK) December 29, 2020
The Metropolitan Police continues to investigate.
The gendered, disproportionate targeting of Muslim women, often (where the verified data was available) by men, is a pressing issue Tell MAMA continues to document in its research and reports.
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