Daily Times

A Muslim woman was pushed to the ground and dragged by her headscarf in a busy London shopping quarter in what is being probed as a hate crime.

The woman, in her 20s, was walking unaccompanied in east London when two men dressed in black advanced towards her. They tried to take off her scarf and shoved her to the ground. The woman was reportedly hauled along the ground during the struggle. The assailants, described as white male teenagers aged 17 to 19, fled after attacking her.

The victim called police after lying on the ground for around 20 minutes, Evening Standard reported. She then limped to a close by Turkish restaurant, where staff came to her assistance.

Restaurant staff first saw the woman sitting on a table outside, Koksal Zeyek, the owner of Fes restaurant, said. “My colleague, he went out and talked to her and she explained that she had been attacked because she had been wearing a scarf – a hijab – and two white men were trying to take off her scarf,” he said.

“She told us two white guys shoved her then dragged her along the floor by her headscarf and left her on the pavement. She was having a panic attack when we saw her and could barely breathe,” a waiter at the restaurant said.

The woman was treated by paramedics at the establishment. No arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident that is being probed by Metropolitan Police.