'Racist' man films himself spraying Muslim woman with stain remover
Social media users call for perpetrator to be detained and prosecuted
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A British man filmed himself spraying a Muslim woman with stain remover in what some have claimed is a racist attack.
Taken in a supermarket, the footage shows a spray bottle of Vanish to the camera, before saying in a northern accent: “Let’s see if this f****** thing works”.
He then repeatedly sprays the back of a woman wearing a hijab, who is apparently oblivious to the assault.
“No, no it don’t f****** work,” he says, before turning the camera on himself. At that point the clip ends.
Social media users expressed their disgust at the video, with many calling for the unidentified man to be prosecuted.
“He has sprayed a chemical on someone. I hope he has been reported to the police, what he did here is illegal. This is an assault,” one Twitter user wrote.
CJ Werleman, a journalist and one of the first to share the video, wrote: “While I'm hesitant to give oxygen to this racist's hate, it does illustrate the increasing marginalization and stigmatisation Muslims now face.”
It is unknown where the footage was filmed, or if the incident was reported to police.
It comes after a report last year found Muslim women “bore the brunt” of rising Islamophobia in the UK.
Of the 765 victims and 874 perpetrators identified in the findings by hate-monitoring group Tell MAMA, that group made up 56 per cent of victims.
Women were more likely to be attacked or abused if they were wearing Islamic clothing, as more than a third of victims were visibly Muslim females, the report said.
The abuse had become so targeted, that a number of women were resorting to modifying their appearance.
Some had resorted to wearing caps in place of headscarves to prevent being attacked.
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