London
British-Pakistani taxi driver Abid Mustafa who suffered racist abuse by one of his passengers has thanked the global community for supporting him and appreciating his calm response.
Video of the racist attack on Twitter has so far been viewed over a million times. It shows the white male passenger saying: “This is England, we’ll blow you out the [explective] water.. you think you’re something special — Pakistan? No wonder the Indians are bombing you”.
The 52-year-old passenger who has now been arrested had hurled Islamophobic and racist abuses at Abid Mustafa who calmly handled the situation and warned him that he would upload the video on social media.
It was clear from the attack video that the passenger correctly recognised Abid Mustafa as a Pakistani and Muslim and then launched the verbal assault.
Speaking to The News, Mustafa described the incident in totality. “I requested the passenger to sit in the back seat due to social distancing but the passenger told me that he would not do so since I did not have a protective screen,” he said.
He highlighted how having a protective screen was not required as per the guidelines in the UK. He allowed the passenger to sit on the front seat but was verbally attacked over his nationality and religion.
In the midst of the ride, he explained, he had even stopped his taxi and offered to order another cab for the passenger but the latter continued with his abusive tirade.—AP
