Muslim worker has headscarf pulled and called “f****** Muslim” in Poundland

The Sutton Guardian reports on an alleged Islamophobic attack at the Poundland shop in Sutton High Street on Sunday 13 March.

The local paper reports that a Muslim worker at the store, Masoomah Jafari, 26, was allegedly called a “f*****g Muslim” and had her headscarf pulled at after a gang of “20 to 30” young people entered the store around 3pmand started causing havoc.

The paper claims Ms Jafari rebuked the young people for attempting to steal items from the store when 5 or 6 young women in the group starting abusing her and tried to rip off her headscarf.

Ms Jafari told the paper, “They came in here shouting and stealing things and I told them to stop.

“A group started swearing at me, saying things about my religion and the clothes I wear. Then they grabbed my head scarf twice.

“I was very frightened.”

Police attended the store but by then the group of young people had moved on and no CCTV footage in the store was available to assist in identifying members of the group.

The paper notes that the young people are suggested to be pupils from Greenshaw High School who have been accused of stealing from the store and directing Islamophobic abuse at Ms Jafari on a previous occasion.

Sutton police have said they have no record of the incident stating, “We would encourage anyone who has been a victim of hate crime to report it and we will investigate it robustly.

Hate crime is an under-reported crime and should be reported when it occurs.”

Greenshaw High School have said that it had not received a complaint about pupils from the school but that it would investigate if it did.

Ms Jafari, who has worked at the Poundland shop for six years, said her parents had suggested she find employment elsewhere following the incident. “But I have been here for so many years and this was not a problem until recently,” she said.