White man pretends to be monkey in 'disgusting racist' attack on black train passenger
"Shocking" footage has shown a white man pretending to be a monkey in a "disgusting racist" attack on a black train passenger.
Mohammed Dirir was travelling on the Northern line in London on Friday evening when an unidentified white man racially abused him by jumping on chairs and swinging from poles in a bid to imitate an ape.
Credit: Mohammed Dirir/Instagram
According to the victim, the man had already begun abusing him before the camera came out. When Dirir asked him to repeat his actions and "do it for the Gram", the commuter began to pretend to be a monkey once again, fully aware that he was being filmed, while a group of five friends looked on and laughed.
Dirir uploaded a video of the incident to Instagram, writing: "Racism is still alive. To all my people of colour around the world, stay strong. Let's end this epidemic once and for all."
A friend of the 27-year-old reportedly added on Twitter: "Six white racist individuals started to make monkey noises on the train to my friend because he is black, one of the individuals then starts to swing around and coming up close. They need to be identified and punished, being drunk is NOT an excuse."
Describing the horrifying turn of events to the Mail Online, the 27-year-old revealed he was "minding his own business" on the tube when the attack started near Kennington station.
Credit: Mohammed Dirir/Instagram
He said: "I saw a group of white men getting on and they saw me and started doing these monkey noises and these monkey movements. I tried to ignore it as much as possible but one of the guys gave me a thumbs up and then I realised he wanted me to know I was being targeted.
"So I asked him, 'are you good mate?' Then he said to his friend that I was dumb and I didn't get it. Fast forward, I tried to get some video footage and as you saw, they were really racist. I could've fought them but then again, everybody would say I was just responding to hate with hate and adding more fuel to the fire.
Credit: Mohammed Dirir/Instagram
"Being the man I am, I was raised to show love rather than hate and I had to set an example. You saw what happened. We need to stop the hatred around the world man. All this racism that's going on, it's nonsense. We're all the same. Ignorant people like that need to be guided and I pray to God that he guides them."
A spokesman for British Transport Police said they are aware of the video, stating: "We take all reports very seriously and would ask anyone who witnessed what happened, or who has any information, to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 711 of 09/03/19."