Two nasty women – one clutching a pint of lager – were caught on Sky News cameras racially abusing Zahin Gelu, a Muslim restaurant owner, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire
A British businessman has today hit back at two vile women who were caught on Sky News cameras racially abusing him in the street.
Zahin Gelu, 32, has skewered the classless yobs, who screamed obscenities and accused the man of “raping our kids” as he spoke to Sky News about tensions in his community – Nuneaton in Warwickshire – amid the recent migrant hotels row. Although Mr Gelu said he forgives the women for their outburst and is not pressing charges, police are investigating the incident anyway – and the clip has been widely shared on sovial media.
Speaking today in a dig aimed at the yobs, Mr Gelu said: “I’ve been here for the last 26 years, I went to primary and secondary school in Nuneaton and went to university in Manchester. I’ve built a business here, I employ people and pay taxes.”
The businessman has lived, studied and worked in the UK since he moved here from Malawi when he was six. He said he believes the women assumed he was an asylum seeker just because of the colour of his skin. His encounter mirrors an incident in Basildon, Essex, after which a 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.
“Because of the colour of my skin and the fact that I’m a British Asian, these women assumed I was an asylum seeker. I’d just about said my name on camera when they came over shouting insults,” Mr Gelu continued.
“There’s no justification for it but she was clearly projecting her problems on to me. She had small children with her and that was what upset me most because what sort of example does that set?”
He spoke to the Daily Mail in the wake of the Sky News interview and the backlash the women have faced since then. During the shocking clash, one of the women says: “That’s the issue we’re having with youse in our country, you’re raping our kids” and the other uses the term: “dirty monkeys”.
Nuneaton business owner racially targeted during Sky News interview
Mr Gelu, a university graduate, has pleaded for Brits “to be more dignified in the way we treat each other”. He referred to the protests last week across the UK, which saw demonstrators gather outside hotels housing migrants. They threatened to boil over in some places and desperate asylum seekers, including those in a Holiday Inn Express in Oxford, were left “fearing for their lives”.
There are some 247 asylum seekers in temporary accommodation in Nuneaton. It is believed the two shameless women thought Mr Gelu was among that figure, which has risen sharply in recent years.
But, though the man forgives the women, police are investigating the incident. It is understood two women aged 30 and 43 have been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence. The older woman was also held on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault.