Londoners speak out about racist abuse
A man said something to me and I thought he needed direction, so I took out my headphones to listen to him.
What I heard shocked me. I froze completely.
He was shouting, swearing and making disgusting racist abuse and telling me: “You need police protection, call the police.”
He walked away, I filmed him, then he came back and repeated these words once again.
I’m a British Asian. This is in London, in my neighbourhood. I consciously chose my home because of the diversity of the city; It’s the first place I felt a sense of belonging after growing up in a less multicultural part of the country.
The sense of belonging and security is now badly shaken and I am not alone in this. After sharing what happened on social media, messages started coming from people who had similar experiences.
Uzma Hussain was harassed by a woman outside her restaurant in Walthamstow Village [BBC]
One of them was Uzma Hussain, who opened a smokehouse restaurant with her husband in Walthamstow Village just before Christmas.
A few days later, a woman stood outside the window and pointed her thumb down.
Uzma thought he didn’t like meat or was a vegetarian and went out to talk to him.
“He started saying some really, really scary things. He said, ‘You don’t belong here.’
“Then he said the P word to me. I had never been called that before.
“I was surprised, shocked, couldn’t believe what was happening and at one point got really angry.”
‘This isn’t fair’
Uzma, who was born and raised in Walthamstow, said the abuse lasted at least 30 minutes.
Uzma, who works as a lawyer, burst into tears while explaining the emotional burden of the incident.
“I think it hit me a lot harder than I thought it would because, after all, these are just words.
“Do you know why I care what someone who doesn’t know me thinks about me?”
Uzma says the harassment left her questioning where she belonged after being told she wasn’t welcome in the place she called home.
“You could say it almost threw me into an identity crisis. It’s not fair that I walked away with that feeling and it’s going to be with me forever.”
He says the support he has received from the local community has been “absolutely phenomenal” and some have their own stories of racism.
“Hundreds of people have come and shared their experiences, and some of them have obviously gotten very emotional about it, and I’m happy to be able to support them virtually.”
Jimmy Bapu stepped in to help but was later racially abused himself [BBC]
Food influencer Jimmy Bapu was at the restaurant where he shot a video that night.
Realizing something was wrong, he went out to help but was also subjected to racist abuse.
The woman said to him, “Look at you,” before hurling racial abuse.
Jimmy told him he was British-born and from east London, and then a passerby chimed in: “Take these ideas home with you. They don’t belong in Walthamstow. Go home.”
But racist abuse continued.
“I lost sleep over it,” says Jimmy, “I haven’t been the same since.”
He posted the video on TikTok.
“The first three hours were just filled with hate. At the same time, it’s like pure hate, like they agree with what he’s saying.”
“It’s like, ‘Wow, they really don’t like us because of the color of our skin.'”
What do the numbers say?
Figures from the Metropolitan Police show that racist hate crimes in London have risen by 9% in the last 12 months, with nearly 18,000 crimes reported.
Outcomes are improving, with nearly one in eight crimes reported last year going through the justice system; this rate was less than one in 10 crimes in 2025.
But campaigners say the true scale is likely to be higher because many incidents go unreported.
Incidents in Balham and Walthamstow, where I was targeted, are currently being dealt with by the justice system.
As for my case, the police response was swift.
A man was arrested the same week and has since been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence.
Chelsea fan Ashlee Moyo shocked after Leeds fan made monkey gestures at her [BBC]
But Ashlee Moyo is still waiting for answers after a Leeds fan made racist gestures towards her as she was leaving the club’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley in April.
He says the man made monkey gestures at another black football fan before targeting him.
“He literally looks at me and then starts making monkey moves at me too.
“And that’s when I said, oh my god, this is definitely not an accident, it’s deliberate and deliberate.
“I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Then I got pretty upset.
“And no one said anything. No one flinched.”
Ashlee, an avid Chelsea supporter, is used to going to matches alone but is now more cautious.
“I have been to many different stadiums in England to watch England and Chelsea play.
“I’ve never had this experience in my life.
“So it made me feel a little bit anxious about going to games by myself again, but I thought: I don’t want to let people like that win.
“I don’t want this to take away my love for the sport. It’s disappointing that I’m thinking about it a little more now.”
‘We need to stir things up’
The Met recognizes that hate crimes, including racist hate crimes, have a serious and lasting impact.
The agency announced it has established a new detective-led hate crime team to improve investigations.
Supt Owen Renowdan, the Met’s hate crimes officer, said in a statement: “We are adapting our approach to improve both the speed and quality of our response, while also strengthening outcomes for victims.”
The common theme running through all these stories is that we do not believe that the racist abuse suffered by our parents’ and grandparents’ generations is still a reality in modern London.
Jimmy said: “I mean, we’ve been here in the UK for generations and although my parents experienced racism, my grandparents also experienced racism, so now I’m part of that, I think, the pain and I think all that trauma.”
Ashlee and Uzma say they feel a responsibility to speak out.
“Maybe in our parents’ generation they wouldn’t have cared about that,” Ashlee says.
“I think what’s different now is that in our generation, when something is wrong, we will call it out.”
Uzma says: “We need to make a fuss about this, so it’s clear that this behavior is not right. As a generation, we will not stand for this.”
“Our parents did it. We won’t do it. We have no reason to do it.”
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