Muslim woman, 21, left ‘sobbing’ after ‘being called a terrorist’ and ‘bomber’ in ‘Islamophobic attack’
A 21-year-old Muslim woman says she was left ‘sobbing’ after allegedly being called a ‘terrorist’ and ‘bomber’ in an ‘Islamophobic attack’ on a train.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous and known as GD*, was on a Great Western Railway train from Bath Spa to London Paddington on October 16 when she was allegedly racially abused.
The woman, who is a university student from Harrow, travelled to Bath for a day trip with three friends to celebrate her 21st birthday.
However, on her journey back to London, GD said she was left ‘sobbing’ and shaking after allegedly being called a ‘terrorist’ by a train passenger.
The train passenger reportedly began to verbally abuse GD after she asked if she could sit on the seat near him.
GD told My London: “I went up to him and said: ‘Hello sir, can I please have a seat here?’
“And then he looked at me and said: ‘No, you can’t. You can, unless you don’t have a bomb up your a**.’”
GD claims the train passenger said the comment loudly while the train had stopped and other travellers heard the abuse.
“He screamed it and the train was not moving at that point,” she said.
“There was a deafening silence, everyone looked at him. I could not process it. I did not understand what happened.”
After the woman’s friend questioned the man about the abuse, he allegedly repeated the abuse again.
She added: “He said: ‘It’s just a joke, you need to loosen up a bit.’ We said: ‘It’s not a joke.’
“Then he said: ‘Oh you might as well blow the train up.’ He said it twice which meant it was ingrained in his head and he said it with the intent of hurting me.
“By then I was shaking. He looked like he was going to be violent. I stood up, my [friend] stood up, and he backed down again. His fist was curled up. He was obviously tipsy but it’s not an excuse.
“My heart was beating so much faster. I was so confused. I was stuttering. My brain halted…I couldn’t figure out what to do next.”
GD also claimed two other male passengers laughed during the incident and, despite the train being ‘full’ of passengers, she claims no one said anything to the man.
“A lady said to me: ‘At least you got something out of it, you got a whole table,’” said GD.
“Did I need to get racially abused to get free seating? Two men sitting on our left throughout the whole interaction, they were laughing.
“At that point we started crying and the whole train started gaslighting us. A man behind stood up and said ‘You shouldn’t have provoked him, you shouldn’t have riled him up.’
“No one said a single thing, even when they knew he was going to get violent.”
GD’s friend also spoke about the reaction from other passengers in the train.
She said: “It was silent. Honestly, it reinforced the idea that silence is compliance. If they felt what he did was wrong, they would have said something but they didn’t… it was shocking, not even after did anyone ask if we were ok.”
Due to this, GD said she ‘screamed’ at the whole carriage for having ‘no empathy.’
She explained: “I stood up and screamed at the whole carriage. [I said]: ‘You guys have no empathy, you guys are disgusting. There is no hope for people of colour if you continue doing this.
“I went on a rant about how British society, being awkward about these topics – racial abuse, racism, colonialism – is the reason why they keep brushing it under the carpet and never bring it up in conversation because they’re too embarrassed to do anything about this.
“That’s exactly what happened to me on the train. Everyone was so awkward, they couldn’t look me in the eye, they didn’t want to say anything. Multiple people came up and said: ‘He is just drunk, that’s how drunk people are.’”
GD also claims that she received the ‘coldest reaction’ from the GWR train conductor.
She claims that after explaining the situation to the conductor, GD says the conductor spoke to the man and allowed him to get off the train.
After this, the conductor allegedly told GD: “Poor chap, he’s a bit drunk, but his wife will give him an earful.”
GD explained: “It was a disaster the way he handled it. He looked at us straight in the face, I was wearing makeup [and] it was obvious I was sobbing.
“My eyes were red, we were shaking, we were all crying and the only thing he said to comfort us is ‘his wife will give him an earful’ and ‘I can’t do anything about it because I’m not legally allowed to.’”
GWR told MyLondon their staff are trained to deal with confrontation and have no power of arrest, and allegations of a crime being committed have to be dealt with by the relevant police authority.
GD, who previously lived in Qatar, believes she was abused as she wears a hijab.
As a result of the experience, GD says she is concerned about being on public transport and avoids using buses.
“I came to London two years ago,” explained GD, “I’m so not used to Islamophobia, I just hear it in the news.
“I take my identity for granted [and] when I saw it being challenged and no one said anything about it, it was such a big shock.
“It’s been very hard for me to go out of the house wearing my hijab and feeling safe. I never felt my hijab was something that attracts attention because I’ve been around people who wear it my whole life and, even if people don’t, it’s not an issue.
“Why does a simple fabric suddenly mean I’m a whole different person that needs to be harassed? I just don’t get it.”
“While our highly professional staff do receive training to manage incidents for the safety of all on board, ultimately only the police are able to investigate an allegation of a crime. We understand that the BTP has tried to get in touch with GD and we look forward to offering any assistance as is necessary.”.
SOURCE: https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/muslim-woman-21-left-sobbing-22117281