A Melbourne teen was racially and physically abused and had her hijab pulled by a woman on a bus after stepping in to defend two young girls, police allege.
The 17-year-old girl was catching a bus from Monash University, in Melbourne’s southeast, to Glen Waverley station when she saw a 50-year-old woman allegedly abusing two young girls about 4:30pm on March 10.
The teen stepped in to help the girls and the woman allegedly slapped her in the face and tried to pull her hijab off, before kicking her as she tried to get off the bus, a police spokeswoman told AAP.
The girl reported the incident to police and said officers told her they recognised the woman from another racist attack on a Protective Services officer two days prior.
‘I was scared to death’
The Mount Waverley woman was charged with common law assault, assault by kicking, three counts of unlawful assault, commit indictable offence whilst on bail and using obscene language in a public place.
She was released on bail to appear at the Ringwood Magistrates Court on May 2.
The teen said in a video of the ordeal posted to TikTok she was disappointed that no bystanders stepped in to help her when she was being abused.
“She kept going with her racial slurs, anything bad about Muslim people, Asian people, no one said anything,” she said.
“I was scared to death because she was staring me down.”
Islamophobia Register Australia executive director Sharara Attai condemned the attack and urged bystanders to step in and help victims of racial abuse.
‘No one stepped in to help ‘
“‘The bus was reportedly full of people and yet no one stepped in to help a 17-year-old child who was being viciously attacked and targeted because of her Islamic faith,” Ms Attai said.
“We urge bystanders to step in where it is safe to do so, to call on key figures in the relevant situation for assistance, such as drivers and shopkeepers, as well as of course police and security guards.
“This kind of racism and bigotry has no place in our society and we need to send a strong message that it will not be tolerated.”
Ms Attai said she had reached out to the young girl to offer her victim support services to assist with long-term trauma from the attack.
-AAP
