Narjas Zatat
Oct 10, 2016
A woman had her hijab pulled down in what has been described as a racially motivated attack last week.
The unnamed Muslim woman was walking along High Road in Tottenham when the incident occurred, and the police are appealing for witnesses.
Following the Brexit vote, Tell Mama, a national project which records anti-Muslim incidents in the UK, reported a 326 per cent rise in Islamophobia.
Twenty - three - year - old YouTuber Hstar Vlogs, whose real name Hassan Saleemi recently took to the streets of London and conducted a social experiment.
Wearing a thawb – a religious item of clothing worn by Muslim men – he sat on the pavement and held out a sign reading:
I am homeless.
In a matter of minutes, a young boy approached him, offering to buy food.
Picture: YouTube/Hstar Vlogs/screengrab
In just one hour, he attracted a small crowd of people - one girl even offered him 50 pounds.
Why did Saleemi do this?
indy100 caught up with him:
What inspired you to wear a thawb and pretend to be homeless?
This is something I have been wanting to do for some time and I finally did it. In the media there has been a lot of negativity about Muslims/Islam in general. I wanted to show the world that London is a multicultural city in which racism doesn't exist and everyone is looked at equally because I have never been abused or being found the victim in London and I am proud of being British as well as being a Muslim. I think the experiment showed exactly what I thought it would because it doesn't matter about what religion you are from people still have humanity left in this world to help out others.
Do you think Islamophobia has increased in the UK?
In my eyes Islamophobia has increased in the UK as well as around the world, every day I look at the news and social media there’s negativity around Islam.
What do you hope to achieve with this video?
There is a clear message in my video which states no matter what religion you belong to, no matter what colour your skin is, helping someone in need is the most grateful thing you do can for someone, especially to someone who is homeless. I really hope that people have taken this message seriously.
I want to be the face of British Pakistani's around the world, who is of a Muslim faith and who is positive about life and to help others.
The video has been viewed over 30,000 times in only a few days.
You can watch the experiment, below:
HT Mirror
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