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The police have launched an investigation after a Black woman was racially abused on the tube in front of her family, The Independent can reveal.
On Saturday afternoon, Ama - who didn’t want her surname to be published - along with her 11-year-old daughter and husband, was returning from a pro-Palestine demonstration and boarded a tube on the Piccadilly Line from Gloucester Road.
A group of four people - two men and two women - entered the densely packed carriage at South Kensington and began talking loudly and making jokes about Gaza, pointing at the many people in the carriage who were wearing keffiyeh scarves and holding placards.
One of the men then kicked one of the keffiyeh-wearing passengers in the behind as he was leaving the carriage which, prompted fellow passengers, including Ama, to take out their phones and begin filming.
The clan became louder and started to yell racist abuse, Ama, who said she is still “shaken” by the experience, told The Independent.
“As soon as they came onto the tube, it was clear they were looking for aggression,” she said. “I don’t know what they wanted but they were violent, vile and shouting abuse at everyone in the carriage.
“The guy was ranting about Gaza with a mocking and threatening tone. I couldn’t make out everything he was saying, but I heard him say ‘kill’ and ‘Gaza’ at one point. I felt humiliated and angry, but I didn’t want to just do nothing which is why I started to film.”
Ama was “shocked” when one of the men “lunged” at her when he realised that she was recording his group’s behaviour - and slapped her phone out of her hand.
Ama’s husband, who’s white, was not targeted in this way, she added.
“I became afraid for my daughter who was also wearing a keffiyeh but was seated away from me and my husband and kept filming because they were becoming more threatening,” she said.
“One of the women began to show the finger to me and other passengers and shouted “Stop filming!”.
“I felt particularly threatened because I was physically surrounded by this group of people, and, as a Black woman, they clearly targeted me.”
“It was striking to me that they appeared to be middle-class, middle-aged white people (...). They didn’t look like the kind of stereotype of racists that people might have.”
The mum-of-one, who is French, explained that she decided to quit Paris for London in hopes of residing in a city that, in her view, isn’t rife with overt racism.
“I’m still shaken,” she continued.
“Am I safe in London? Is this behaviour acceptable? Is the police going to do something? London - for us non-white, French people - appears to be a haven in terms of race relations. In Paris, racism is more overt.
“We really thought we had found a home in London with less blatant racism.”
Ama’s daughter is also traumatised by the assault, fearing that she could have been physically targeted as well.
“I'd like for me and my family to be safe,” Ama said.
“I’d like to be free to march, to have political opinions in London. I'd like to be able to live in a society where racist violence is not the norm. I don't want my daughter to be afraid to take the tube, have political opinions and just be mixed-race.
The family were on a high after attending last weekend’s demonstration in support of Palestine.
“We came back from this march feeling full of positive energy,” Ama said.
“We want to encourage our daughter to think about justice, inequality here and around the world - and the freedom of Palestine is a very important issue, one of the main issues of our time.”
The British Transport Police has confirmed that it is looking into the matter.
“Officers are investigating a report of a racially aggravated assault on board a Piccadilly Line underground service that occurred around 4 pm on 7 September,” a spokesperson said.
“Anyone with information who is yet to get in touch can do so by texting 61016 or calling 0800 405040 quoting reference 410 of 7 September.”
