Daily Times

A Muslim student survived a horrifying attack in Durham after visiting a pub to celebrate his first Christmas in the UK.

“My heart is broken and I am emotionally overwhelmed,” said Ihsan Abualrob, an international student of Palestinian origin. “It’s my first Christmas ever outside my country and that is my Christmas treat? They did this for nothing but for me being a Muslim in this country. Christmas should be a time of love and hope, not violence,” he said.

Ihsan Abualrob, 27, a master’s student in international relations and politics, at Durham University, UK, visited the pub with his friend to celebrate his first Christmas. Neither of them drinks alcohol and had planned to play pool but the table was covered.

The student alleges he was “harassed, insulted and physically assaulted” by a group of unknown men.

Abualrob said, “We don’t drink and were sitting there chatting when suddenly a British guy approached us, pulled up a chair uninvited. The man then asked us where we were from and in response said ‘So, you are all Muslims… Are you suicide bombers?'”

He and his friend ignored the remark, Abualrob said. On leaving the pub the man and his three followed him outside and started “insulting” his religion. Abualrob responded “Merry Christmas, enjoy your holiday” and started to cross the street. Instead of returning the felicitations the men attacked him.

One of the men threw an empty glass towards him. “He then lunged at me, punched and kicked me,” Abualrob said. The other three men in the group joined the assailant. In the violence that ensued Abualroab sustained injuries all over his body.

The alleged incident took place on Christmas Eve near the Happy Wanderer Pub, Durham. “At one point I lost consciousness. I was helpless and thought this was the end of it. It was so scary and frightening,” Abualrob said.

“I felt not only pain but humiliation. I am from Palestine and came here hoping for a peaceful life – not to live in fear,” he added.

Police confirmed that “a 49-year-old man and a 23-year-old have been arrested on suspicion of racially or religiously aggravated assault with injury” in connection with the attack.

Terror attacks in the UK have triggered a huge spike in hate crimes during the past year, with a majority of them being attacks in the streets on British Muslims. Manchester and London police forces registered a spike in hate crimes targeting mosques and Muslims in the UK. According to official police record, 110 hate crimes were reported from March to July 2017, almost double the same six-month period in 2016.

Tell Mama, an organisation that monitors hate crimes, recorded 141 incidents against Muslims after the Manchester attack on May 22, an increase of 500 percent – about a daily average of 25 reported to the charity as compared to the number reported to the police. Community experts and the police believe there is huge under-reporting of hate crimes.

Fiyaz Mughal, Director of Faith Matters, which works to increase community cohesion, said, “We have to reduce terrorist attacks in order to reduce fractures in our community.” He added it was essential to acknowledge that terrorism was the motivation behind attacks.

Published in Daily Times, December 31^st 2017.