A Muslim woman who wears the niqab faced a torrent of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic abuse from a female passenger who told her, “this is not your home,” adding that she was “smelly” on a busy Central Line train when travelling with her husband and children.
The incident occurred on August 15.
Speaking to Tell MAMA, a witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, described how the perpetrator also said: “you, Muslim, why are sitting next to me? Why are you wearing that?”
The witness also described how the abuse left the Muslim woman tearful, and that she was comforted by a white female passenger, who challenged the perpetrator who then left the train one stop later.
She described the perpetrator as being a black female in her mid-to-late sixties.
Tell MAMA has long documented the discrimination, abuse, threats, and violence Muslim women who wear the face veil experience.
In 2018, 13 per cent of verified reports to Tell MAMA occurred on public transport networks, and in the first six months of 2019, Tell MAMA verified 374 offline reports, with almost one in 10 reports occurring on public transport.
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