Man, 55, is arrested by police after shocking video showed thug launching racist tirade against Muslim women as they walked down the street

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of racially aggrevated public order offences after he was seen on video threatening and verbally abusing Muslim women as they walked down the street in an ‘unacceptable’ racist tirade.

Mobile phone footage shows the thug following the women, who are wearing Islamic headscarves, down South Street in Romford, labelling them as ‘f***ing c***s’ in a string of vile racist and Islamophobic slurs.

Last night, Havering Police said: ‘This evening, we arrested a 55-year-old man on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences. 

‘This follows distressing footage shared earlier of a group of women being racially abused in South Street, Romford yesterday. The man has been taken into custody.’

Yesterday officers also said they planned to speak to the victims, after they were called ‘Muslim c****’ and told to ‘f*** off out of England’ by the perpetrator.

He can also be heard saying: ‘You Muslim f***ing c****. You’re c****. Muslim c****. You f****** Muslim s***. Go away you f***ing idiots.’

One of the group asks the man to stop and tells him that he is ‘being racist’, but this does not stop him from continuing his barrage of abuse.

He says: ‘Harassing? We don’t like you. F*** off back to Muslim c******.

‘We are a Christian country and we don’t f***ing like you. F*** off out of England. You are a cancer on our country. F***off. You are a cancer. We are a Christian country and we don’t like you. we are not a Muslim country.’

Redbridge Community Action Group, a London-based charity, posted the footage onto social media to help try and identify the culprit. 

Writing on X, formally known as twitter, they said: ‘Help @metpolice identify this sick racist earlier today in Romford!

‘WATCH as this coward physically threatens and subjects a group of women with his vile, horrific, racist and Islamophobic slurs. We stand with them in solidarity! Internet, please do your thing!’

In a later statement, the charity also said the video was ‘yet another horrific incident of Islamophobia which many Muslims have to face’.   

In response to the video, the Metropolitan Police commented: ‘We are aware and urgently investigating this clearly unacceptable incident. We will be speaking to the victim later.’  

The video has garnered a lot of online attention, with many people commenting in support of the women subjected to the abuse. 

One wrote: ‘Absolutely dreadful. I am so sorry those women were subjected to that, and well done the brave woman who kept him at bay. Just sorry no members of the public came to help.’ 

Another wrote: ‘That’s absolutely disgusting and completely unacceptable, this racist scum needs to be identified and prosecuted and sent to prison. The police should be able to identify and charge him from the pictures.’

A third wrote: ‘Shameful and horribly intimidating for those poor women. Deeply worrying that for some, ‘Christian values’ entail dehumanising, othering, and harassing our neighbours.’