Threats and harassment against hijab-wearing Muslim women have reportedly become a daily occurrence in the United Kingdom.
According to a report by the BBC, one woman said that receiving threats while travelling on buses had become a routine part of her life.
The 21-year-old said she regularly faced incidents of spitting, pulling, and being pushed. She said they had reached a point where they had conditioned themselves to endure such incidents rather than report them.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police said that no community in London should have to tolerate abuse or fear and that the police were fully prepared to tackle all forms of hate.
The woman recalled an incident when she was waiting at a bus stop and a man verbally abused her because of her hijab and clothing.
He angrily told her that covering her face with a veil and wearing such clothing was completely unacceptable. He allegedly said, “This is not Islam, it is terrorism,” and threatened to remove her veil himself if she did not take it off.
According to the BBC, the Muslim woman said that the man later threatened to kill her on the bus. Only one passenger intervened, after which the bus driver removed the threatening individual from the vehicle. She said she believed she could have suffered serious injuries had the passenger not come to her aid, and expressed gratitude to him for helping her.
The woman said she faced similar situations almost every day and that if she reported every incident, she would probably spend most of her time at police stations.
She said she had also reported an incident of Islamophobia to the Metropolitan Police, but claimed that the police officer’s response was dismissive.
She added that many women had reported Islamophobic incidents to police but had been discouraged by the way their complaints were handled. She stressed that such behaviour should not be tolerated under any circumstances.
