A Muslim woman who was abused on a bus in west London for wearing a niqab has said that she is subjected to Islamophobic abuse on a daily basis in the capital.
“Spitting, barging, pushing. It happens to me every single day,” says 21-year-old Salsabil.
“We kind of convince ourselves that this is something we have to tolerate rather than report.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said that “no community in London should have to endure intimidation or abuse” and the force was “committed to tackling all forms of hate crime”.
Salsabil said she was travelling home from central London on 31 July when she was verbally abused because of her niqab, a veil for her face that leaves the area around the eyes clear and is worn with a headscarf.
She got off the bus and said she boarded the next one, and was again subjected to verbal abuse regarding her niqab. The incident was captured on video.
“He was swearing at me for the way I’m dressed,” Salsabil said.
“I went to go sit down and this passenger stopped me, again, very aggressively, telling me that I’m not welcome with this veil on my face, that this is terrorism, this is not religion.
“He said that if I refuse to take off my veil that he will take it off for me.”
Salsabil said the man threatened to kill her, and another passenger intervened and became embroiled in a punch-up with the man.
She said he was the only passenger who came to her defence.
The bus driver intervened and the man was asked to get off, which he did, and Salsabil got off at her normal stop in north-west London.
“I genuinely thought that I was going to be seriously injured,” she said. “I felt so alone.
“I’m so grateful for the passenger who did step in and defend me.”
