“It is just absolutely heartbreaking. If I’m honest I’m just so scared. I worry what will happen next, I keep thinking they will start throwing rocks at the windows and things like that…it’s difficult to be at home alone.”
“It is just absolutely heartbreaking. If I’m honest I’m just so scared. I worry what will happen next, I keep thinking they will start throwing rocks at the windows and things like that…it’s difficult to be at home alone.”
A Muslim family from Cardiff are reeling after being subject to an alleged racist and Islamophobic attack last Friday. Their car was reportedly broken into with the windows smashed, blue paint poured inside the seats, and the derogatory word “p***” spraypainted over the back and sides of the vehicle.
Safeer Ahmed, 25, said he had just bought the car two days ago with his wife before the attack. Scared of what might happen next, the couple remain in shock and claim that this is their first encounter with this type of racism and Islamophobia in Wales. Asking to remain anonymous, Safeer’s wife stated to Wales Online:
It is just absolutely heartbreaking. If I’m honest I’m just so scared. I worry what will happen next, I keep thinking they will start throwing rocks at the windows and things like that…it’s difficult to be at home alone.”
The blue paint was allegedly found later in a neighbor’s yard, and local police have been notified and are using CCTV footage to help determine who the attackers are. The couple, although covered by insurance, worry about how they will get to work now without the use of their car. More so than the damage to the car is the damage to their well-being, however. Safeer’s wife stated that “we just keep to ourselves – I just really want to know who would go out of their way to do this.”
A spokesperson from South Wales Police has announced that they are currently investigating this incident as a possible hate crime, and have asked the community for any leads on who might have carried out this attack:
Such damage is totally unacceptable. Cardiff is a modern, multi-cultural city where people of different religions, faiths, and cultures live side by side and have done for many, many years. If anyone has information on this incident we would ask them to please contact us on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting occurrence #377325.”
As reports of Islamophobia and race-related hate crimes skyrocket with politicians and the media helping fuel divisive rhetoric, it becomes dangerously easy for criminals like the ones on Friday to carry out attacks like this. As families like Safeer’s continue to remain in shock after attacks like these, it becomes imperitive on all our parts to help encourage a society of tolerance, openness, and understanding.
