A Muslim woman, who wears the hijab, heard ‘shooting sounds’ from a middle-aged man as she walked to work in Oxford.
The incident happened at around 11:00 GMT on March 18, and comes days after a neo-Nazi terrorist murdered 50 Muslim women, men, and children inside two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Speaking to Tell MAMA, the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, described her shock and fear after hearing the threatening Islamophobic abuse, adding that if she could remember the branding of the man’s removal van, she would report him to the company herself.
To protect herself further, she increased her walking pace and changed her route back home to avoid the man. She does, however, intend to carry on taking this route to work.
Nor is this the only Islamophobic incident which took place in Oxford following the Christchurch terror attack as swastikas and references to the attack appeared on a wall of a school in Oxford over the weekend.
Other Islamophobic incidents have occurred in London as counter-terror police continue to question a 50-year-old man following a far-right inspired stabbing in Surrey on Saturday night.
Greater Manchester Police are questioning two people in connection to abuse directed at a Rochdale taxi driver which included reference to the Christchurch terror attack.
Muslims were called ‘terrorists’ and threatened with weapons hours after Friday’s terror attack in East London.
Tell MAMA has long documented the disproportionate abuse and violence directed at Muslim women who wear Islamic clothing, by perpetrators often identified as being white males. The intersectional and gendered nature of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred was the overarching theme of our recent interim report.
She described the Islamophobic male as being white, who was in his early 50s.
Given the rise in reports to Tell MAMA, both online and offline, we urge Muslims, Islamic institutions, and members of the public to follow our safety tips.
#WeStandTogether: If extremists seek division, we rise above. If extremists cause harm, we rise above. If you face anti-Muslim hate, we rise to help. Speak to Tell MAMA in confidence.
Keep our safety tips in mind as you go about your day 👇 pic.twitter.com/QefyPWxU8a
— TellMAMAUK (@TellMamaUK) April 3, 2018
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