Racist spat and shouted “F****** P*** sl*t” at Muslim woman at traffic lights

A racist driver spat at and shouted “f****** P*** sl*t” at a Muslim woman who wears the hijab when at a set of traffic lights in central London.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, and wishing to remain anonymous, the woman described how the hostility from the driver began before the racist and misogynistic abuse took place, stating that the male driver had swerved towards her vehicle, shouting obscenities at her, before overtaking her on repeated occasions.

The racist incident occurred on the afternoon of October 8.

She felt that the man was following them, adding to her anxiety as her young child was also present and that when he directed his spit, her window had been open.

After expressing frustration at the time taken to report the Islamophobic hate crime to the Metropolitan Police on 101, Tell MAMA made a report on her behalf, and an investigation is ongoing.

She described the perpetrator as a bearded white male in his mid-to-late fifties who drove a white Mercedes van.

Tell MAMA has long-documented the intersection between anti-Muslim hatred, Islamophobia, and misogyny, in news articles and research reports, that also connect racialised and gendered stereotypes about the religious identities of Muslim women.

In the first six months of 2019, 5 per cent of verified reports to Tell MAMA took place on roads or highways.

The latest Home Office bulletin on hate crime in England and Wales reveals a sharp rise in racist hate crime, accounting for 72 per cent of offences, up 6 per cent on the previous recording cycle.

The bulletin noted, “The increases seen in June and July 2020 were likely to be related to the Black Lives Matters protests and far-right groups counter-protests.”

Religious hate crime fell by 6 per cent, but the bulletin excludes data from Greater Manchester Police and Nottinghamshire Police. Of the figures available, half of the religiously aggravated offences (against the perceived targeted faith group) targeted Muslims (3,089), as almost one-in-five offences targeted Jewish people (1,205), with 7 per cent of offences targeting those of ‘Other’ faith, as 3 per cent (202 incidents) targeted Sikh communities.

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Categories: Hijab, London, Metropolitan Police, News

Terrorists look for different targets as coronavirus cuts crowds, new MI5 boss warns

Terrorists are hunting for fresh targets because there are fewer crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic, the new boss of MI5 has warned.

Director general Ken McCallum said the security service has been “rapidly adapting” how it works to keep the country safe during the outbreak as well as helping research efforts in combatting the virus and trying to protect work on the vaccine from potential interference.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since taking on the top role in April, he said: “I stepped into this role at the height of the Covid lockdown, and for MI5 just like everyone else, 2020 has been dominated by the pandemic.

“We’ve sought where we can to help on Covid itself – advising on the safe construction of Nightingale hospitals; repurposing research originally done on toxic chemicals to help understand how Covid in droplets might disperse in certain environments; offering our skills in data analytics and modelling; simply allowing medically-qualified MI5 officers to step away from their duties here and directly support our NHS.

“And, crucially, on the vaccine, we’ve been working to protect the integrity of UK research.

“Our larger task has been rapidly adapting how we perform our core role of keeping the UK safe.

“The big shifts in everyone’s lives – reduced travel, more online, and the rest – mean shifts in how our adversaries are operating.

“Fewer crowds mean terrorists look at different targets; online living means more opportunities for cyber hackers; and so on.

“Equally, 2020 has demanded shifts in how MI5 itself has to operate; you wouldn’t expect me to get into detail, but common sense will tell you that covert surveillance is not straightforward on near-empty streets.”

Mr McCallum, who is in his forties, became the youngest ever director general when he took over from Sir Andrew Parker, who retired after leading the organisation since 2013.

The maths degree graduate, who grew up in Glasgow, has been the deputy director general since April 2017 and has 25 years of experience at MI5 including work on Northern Ireland-related terrorism, Islamist extremism and cyber security.

His career has seen him take charge of the service’s response to the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal in the Salisbury nerve agent attack as well as leading the response to the 2017 terror attacks and taking charge of counter terrorism investigations and risk management surrounding the 2012 London Olympics.


Read more: Osama Bin Laden’s London Spokesperson Cannot Simply Walk into the U.K.

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Categories: COVID, Ken McCallum, MI5, News, Sergei Skripal, Surveillance, Terrorists