Man tries to tear off Muslim woman’s hijab on Oxford St

The Daily Mail reports on an alleged early morning attack on a Muslim woman as she walked along Oxford Street, in central London, earlier this month.

The paper notes details from the incident which happened at around 8.15am on 4 October. The victim, a Muslim woman in her 40s, was walking along the shopping street when she was approached by the attacker who “repeatedly” told her to remove her headscarf before he grabbed it and tried to pull it off.

The man then ran off in the direction of Marble Arch.

Scotland Yard confirmed the incident was being treated as an Islamophobic offence.

Detective Sergeant Steve Stamp said: “This was an unprovoked and hate-filled attack in broad daylight in the middle of a busy street. The woman was targeted by this suspect purely based on what she was wearing.”

It is the second such incident that has come to light in recent days with reports last week of a similar attack in north London on a Muslim student. The victim had her headscarf pulled off by a man as she stood waiting to cross a road in Tottenham, north London. The victim later spoke of her distress at the failure of passers-by to intervene and help her despite the attack taking place on a busy street in broad daylight.