A business man has spoken out after experiencing racist abuse aboard an underground train in London.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Mohammed Dirir, 27, said he was left feeling shocked and embarrassed after six white men made monkey noises towards him on a tube.
He filmed one of the men jumping on the seats doing an impression of an ape and swinging from poles as his friends laughed and encouraged him.
The incident took place on Friday on a Northern Line tube train near Kennington, south London.
Having filmed the incident, Dirir uploaded the footage to social media in a bid to raise awareness about what took place and trace the culprits.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, he said: “This incident made me determined to stand up for other people, victims of racism; I want to do something about it.
“Racism goes on in the whole world - not just in the UK. There are so many other victims and some people don’t have the courage to take out their phones and record whatever’s going on.
“I had the chance to and I wanted to show the world what’s really happening; this stuff happens on a daily basis.”
On social media, Dirir was widely praised for keeping calm throughout the ordeal.
He said: “I could’ve knocked them out but that that would be responding to hate with hate - and added more fuel to the fire. I was raised to show love rather than hate.
“I had to set an example and show class.”
Dirir, who was born in the Netherlands and has lived in the UK for eight years, said he has noticed an increase in hate crime recently.
A recent Crown Prosecution Service report revealed that hate crime incidents have more than doubled in five years, and rose by almost a fifth in 2017/18 on the previous year.
Police in England and Wales recorded a 17% rise in incidents, with three quarters – 71,251 – recorded as race hate crimes. In total, there were 94,098 offences.
HuffPost UK has attempted to contact British Transport Police (BTP). It is understood BTP has contacted the victim.
Responding to the video on Twitter, Transport For London posted that it is “definitely a crime”.