Video of a brutal assault captured on Tuesday in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, has gone viral online. The woman, wearing a hijab, can be seen in the video clip, recorded by a CCTV camera, taking cover from the rain with a pink and black umbrella.
The attack, which authorities believe was racially motivated, was from a man in all black, wearing a hood.
In the video, he is seen wielding a slab of heavy concrete pavement, which he uses to try and strike her savagely.
The woman notices him approaching and, at the last second, moves out of the way of the full impact but is nonetheless injured after being clipped in the face.
She escapes her assailant and runs toward onlookers, who watch in horror.
Two guys talking beside a billboard outside a fast food restaurant see what’s happening and rush to help.
After the scary incident, a shopkeeper raced out and pulled his phone out to report what had happened.
After committing his attack, the assailant is seen walking away, hands in his pockets.
After the concrete slab hits the woman, she can be seen holding her face.
The woman was wearing a hijab, a modest head covering favored by Muslim women, when she was attacked yesterday, raising suspicions that it was a hate crime.
A 57-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of assault, according to the West Yorkshire Police.
Eid Karimi, a witness, said people were scurrying around, and he saw this guy. The attacker tried to escape, but he chased him down and seized him. He pleaded with Karimi not to call the cops, promising he wouldn’t do it again. They had him pinned down while waiting for the police.
A representative for the West Yorkshire Police Department would not say whether or not they were investigating the incident as a hate crime. Kirklees Police have arrested a man in connection with the crime, and further investigation is ongoing.
After last week’s Hamas attack on Israel, police in London reported a 1,353% spike in antisemitic crimes this month compared to the previous year and a 140% increase in Islamophobic crimes.
