A woman has been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after a video emerged of an allegedly ‘racist’ rant on a London bus.
The Met police detained a 34-year-old at an address in Hackney on Tuesday, after a clip featuring a woman swaying and shouting ‘I hate white people’ was viewed thousands of times on YouTube.
A police spokesman said: "On Monday 20 August MPS officers began to assess footage of a woman that was brought to our attention.
"It shows a woman making comments on a bus. Officers are continuing to try and establish when and where the footage was taken."
The definition of a public order offence is wide ranging and includes being drunk and disorderly, but in this case, the behaviour likely to be categorised as “using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour intending to and causing harassment, alarm or distress.”
The maximum penalty for a racially aggravated public order offence is up to two years in jail, or a fine, or both.
In May Jacqueline Woodhouse was jailed for 21 weeks after hurling racist abuse at fellow Tube travellers.
The 42-year-old former secretary launched an expletive-laden rant at passengers on the Central line, telling those seated near her: "I used to live in England and now I live in the United Nations."
A seven-minute video of the verbal assault was uploaded to YouTube and viewed more than 200,000 times.
Her conviction followed that of Emma West, who was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence in connection with an incident on a tram in December.
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