British police investigate alleged "hate crime" after Twitter post

Sun, 16 Jul, 2017 - 22:36

British police are investigating a suspected hate crime after a man was accused of trying to pull off a Muslim woman’s hijab and spitting at her friend.

The woman, who posted about the incident on Twitter, claims she was waiting for a Tube at Baker Street in the early hours of Saturday morning when she was set upon.

The woman posted a picture of the man who allegedly attacked her, writing: "This man at Baker Street station forcefully attempted to pull my hijab off and when I instinctively grabbed ahold of my scarf he hit me."

She continued: "He proceeded to verbally abuse my friends and I, pinning one of them against the wall and spitting in her face."

The woman also added a woman who was present was also threatening and verbally abusive.

She urged others to share the image in order to identify the suspect, earning more than 24,000 retweets by Sunday afternoon.

A British Transport Police spokesman said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime, adding: "Behaviour like this is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

"This incident has been reported to us and we’re investigating."

However, the alleged suspect tweeted to protest his innocence, claiming he had been defending his partner from a racist attack, and trying to diffuse a "racist attack from three other random females".

Saying the allegation against him was "completely false" the person pictured wrote: "I would like to confirm I never hit or attacked anyone I simply defused the situation by separating them.

"The police is fully cooperating with me and will be able to obtain CCTV footage showing the three women attempting to attack my partner because we are in an interracial relationship."