London has always prided itself as being a multi-ethnic city. However, Islamaphobia has undoubtedly crept into the minds of some people who go out of their way to discriminate and have no qualms in showing their their hatred. An unfortunate act occurred on Tuesday 8th December, when a man was forced to get off a Tube as a commuter complained that he was using his iPad “suspiciously”.
Whilst near Finsbury Park Station on the Piccadilly Line train, the man, who does not want to reveal his real identity, was allegedly told to get off the train as he had switched off his iPad when the commuter had looked at it.
Other commuters rushed to his defence, but the man, who appeared shock, decided to get off at Wood Green station.
Many people on the train had called the abuser racist, but he remained least bothered.
A witness spoke about the abuser and the incident. “There was a guy stood up, dressed smartly with a man bag. He wasn't being overtly aggressive but he had clearly taken offence to something another passenger had done. I saw people reacting so I took my headphones off and realised he was asking someone who looked Arabic to get off the train amongst other things because he felt threatened by him.”
He continued, “A couple of women... immediately interjected; the Arabic man looked pretty shocked and clearly didn't know what to do. I think he wanted to fight his corner but, thankfully plenty of people stood in between and stopped anything escalating. It made me pretty sad and angry to actually see an incident like that but also the reaction of the people coming together to vastly outnumber a bigot was pretty heart-warming.”
Fiyaz Mughal, director of Tell MAMA, the Islamaphobia watchdog said, “Sadly, fears around Muslims in general are heightened and such actions have an impact... This cannot be allowed to happen and plays into the hands of extremists who want to divide us. A comment here, asking not to be in a carriage with a Muslim or asking for a Muslim passenger to fly on another plane, are gifts for IS and their desire to tear our communities apart.”
A spokesperson for British Transport Police (BTP) said, “Everyone has the right to travel safely, and nobody should feel threatened on the rail network.”
