Students from Darlington have lobbied their local MP about the spike in Islamophobic attacks against Muslim women since the Paris attacks.
Sharifah Rahman, 17, told MP Jenny Chapman that friends and family had suffered increased abuse since the attacks last November.
Ms Rahman, who studies A-Levels at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, said her mother was spat on in Sainsbury’s because she was wearing a niqab.
The incident in which a baby in her pram was allegedly kicked at in Primark happened before the Paris attacks.
Ms Rahman said neither of the incidents were reported to police because of the shock the victims felt in the immediate aftermath.
She told the Darlington and Stockton Times: “You go into shock and your first thought is not of who you should report it to. It is not a nice feeling.”
In December 2015, Scotland Yard reported that hate crimes against Muslims in London had tripled since the Paris attacks.
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Ms Rahman and her friends Sanjida Basit, and Isha Shakir, said they want to see Darlington to come together as a strong and peaceful community.
She said: “Many of us have lived in Darlington all of our lives, but now it’s as though were unsafe in our own home.
“It feels like it is aimed particularly at Muslim women which is more difficult because we won’t retaliate, and it happens so quickly leaving you in such shock, that you don’t have time to even think what’s the best thing to do.”
Her friend Sanjida said there had been a shift in attitude since recent global events.
She said: “People just feel more intolerant towards you and that there is more of an issue. It’s not an issue for our community because we just want to live peacefully and get on with the people around us like we have for so many years.”
Ms Chapman described the Islamophobic attacks as “disgraceful” and reminded victimes the importance of reporting hate crime.
She said: “This is a tiny minority of people behaving disgracefully and vast majority of residents want to get on with all communities in Darlington and are not prejudiced.
“This terrible behaviour is born out of ignorance and misplaced fear.
“I know this is a priority for the police and I am alarmed and concerned to hear about it. It’s not acceptable and we all need to stand up to this together.”
