A couple, when out shopping in Marylebone in central London, faced a death threat and abuse from a woman they had earlier challenged for the abusive and racist comments she made about London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Palestinian communities.
Speaking to Tell MAMA, and wishing to remain anonymous, described how the woman targeted a fellow shopper by calling them a “Hamas supporter.”
The woman then burst into a horrendous rant, full of anti-Muslim statements about Sadiq Khan, including unfounded conspiracies about him “cancelling Christmas,” until various upstanders, challenged her vile behaviour.
“I told her politely, what you’re saying is racist and wrong, you need to leave the store,” he recalled, adding that the incident occurred in the early evening of November 9.
The woman, however, began making further abhorrent, dehumanising, and racist comments about killing Palestinians, he added.
Unbeknownst to the couple was that the perpetrator was waiting for them on the high street, confronting them several minutes later.
When outside, the perpetrator repeated her vile comments whilst filming the couple without their consent, before aggressively stating both “should be killed” and making a gunshot noise at them.
Following a discussion with Tell MAMA’s Casework Team, they consented for us to make a police report on their behalf.
We will endeavour to provide updates on the case where possible in due time.
Tell MAMA recorded a seven-fold increase in anti-Muslim cases a month after the deadly Hamas terror attacks, recording 701 cases (326 offline, 375 online). Coverage of the rise appeared on ITV News yesterday evening.
To reiterate, following the publication of our latest stats, we urged communities that “In the current climate, we continue to urge communities to stand together and practice compassion and care for each other and for themselves, to be upstanders and intervene safely to stop racism and hate crime, and we urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risk stereotyping communities and how it may unduly influence discussions online and offline.”
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