A shopper has described his shock after he witnessed racist abuse hurled at a Muslim family at a shopping centre in Coventry.
Two men were seen repeatedly shouting the word “P*ki” at a Muslim family as they were shopping at West Orchard Shopping Centre last Saturday.
One man who witnessed the incident at around 5pm described the men as “sad, ignorant racist bigots”.
The witness, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Coventry Telegraph: “Going up the escalator I became aware of someone calling something out in my direction.
“As I looked down there were two white adult males in their late 30s on the other escalator, and one was looking up at the Muslim family in front of me repeatedly calling out ‘P*ki” with a very smug and self-satisfied grin on his face.
“It was so childish and playground, I almost wondered about the guy’s mental state. But unfortunately there are no excuses, he was just a sad, ignorant, racist bigot with nothing better to do on a Saturday evening.
“I was both offended and shocked that this was happening in such an openly public space and surprised that very few other people even seemed to notice or weren’t prepared to intervene in any way.
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“Probably even less people than reported the unattended bag on Friday.
“I couldn’t help myself and hurled a bit of abuse back at him. I also decided to report the incident to security, but by the time a security operative was in attendance the two men were long gone.”
Coventry prides itself over housing more than 100 Syrian refugees as part of a government scheme to help those fleeing the war-torn country.
The eyewitness to Saturday’s attack in West Orchards said: “I’d just like the people of Coventry to know this sort of thing is happening, because I hope that the vast majority of them would find this behaviour abhorrent and intolerable like I did.
“If we allow stuff like this to continue then we’re going backwards in my opinion and that is not good.
“The city prides itself on its racial diversity and tolerance, and has reportedly taken more than its fair share of refugees – let’s not let a minority of idiots spoil that.”
A spokesman for West Orchards Shopping Centre confirmed that the incident was reported to management on Saturday 29 October 2016.
CCTV footage was checked to try and identify the perpetrators but the men had already left the centre.
The spokesman said they had a “zero tolerance” on any racist or anti-social behaviour.
