London, 6 Dzulqa’dah 1436/21 August 2015 (MINA) – A British Muslim nurse has been viciously attacked by a gang of teenagers who mocked his beard and wife’s hijab before hitting him repeatedly in the face.
“I got punched by one of them and I tried to defend myself then they were all hitting me. I took lots of blows, Qaiser Hamid, a mental health nurse said, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
“The shop was covered in blood as I was bleeding all over the place. It was completely unprovoked.
“I don’t feel good and I don’t want to go back to Stockport. I have been really affected psychologically and struggle to go out of the house.
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“I had to go to the hospital and I wore a hooded top because I feel self-conscious and don’t want people passing judgment,” the 37-year-old nurse added.
Troubles erupted when Qaiser was shopping in Stockport town center with his wife, Farah, on Friday.
A teenage girl shouted, reacting to his facial hair, and racially abused him before her male friends began punching him in the face.
Qaiser, who was standing outside a shoe shop at the time, needed hospital treatment for cuts and bruising in his face.
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Shop staff called police and Qaiser, from Heaton Norris, was left angered as the gang loitered nearby and continued to shout threats while he waited for police.
“There were so many. It was definitely racially motivated, they kept mentioning my beard, my wife was wearing a headscarf and they kept using the P-word,” Qaiser added.
The members of the gang are described as white and aged 15 to 17.
Inspector Stephen Gilbertson from Stockport police confirmed that dispersal orders are now in place so police can remove anyone behaving anti-socially and arrest them if they return.
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“We’ve had quite a lot of youths congregating around Stockport centre over the last week and it culminated with this incident,” inspector Gilbertson said.
“Officers got to it as quickly as they could but had a lot of other incidents to deal with around the same time.” (T/P006/RO6)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
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