A gang of teenagers beat up a man in front of his 10-year-old son as they were walking to their local mosque in east London.
Maudud Ahmed, a father-of-four, was punched in his face and kicked by seven teenagers as he protected his son from getting hurt.
The assault occurred in Plaistow when one of the teenagers tried pushing his son.
Mr Ahmed defended his son before he was attacked, which resulted in in numerous cuts and bruises on his face and body.
“I did not want to do anything,” he said. “I wanted to avoid them but they start hitting me.”
Mr Ahmed stated that he was a victim of a hate crime because he was wearing traditional Muslim attire, but the gang ignored other members of the public who walked passed them without overtly ‘Muslim’ clothing.
He said: “The youths were waiting to harass anyone like me going there. There were other people passing by at Jutland Road before me but they were not harassed or attacked the way my son and I was.”
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“My right hand was seriously inflamed,” he said. “The ambulance people thought it had been broken.”
Mr Ahmed said that he is afraid of leaving the house alone or with his children, as this was the second hate attack he has been subjected to.
He suffered a similar assault in the same area in March 2016.
A police spokesman said: “This crime is being investigated as a hate crime.
“An investigation has been opened into the incident, while no arrests have been reported so far.”
