A Bangladeshi businessman who runs a popular curry house at Solihull in Birmingham has spoken of his shock and hurt at his restaurant being targeted with racist graffiti.
Muzibur Rahman runs Saffron Takeaway, which was plastered with the racist abuse of “Paki” in big black letters last week.
“I'm devastated. I just feel victimised, incredibly hurt. I can't really express my feelings. This is something very unusual that has happened,” said the 52-year-old, who moved to the UK from Bangladesh in the 1980s before setting up the restaurant in 1995.
"In a long time we have been in Solihull, this kind of thing has never happened before. We've never felt like we're from another country. This is like our home for us,” said Rahman, a father of three who has been based in Birmingham since 1991.
The word “Paki” is used as a racist abuse mostly against people from the Indian Subcontinent and is effectively banned in the UK.
West Midlands Police confirmed it is investigating the racist incident.
The graffiti attack, on March 19, came days after a terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, claimed 50 lives during Friday prayers on March 15. West Midlands Police were called to incidents of vandalism on at least six mosques in Birmingham and have arrested one man under the UK Mental Health Act in relation to five of those attacks.
“We continue to work in partnership with mosques and local communities around the West Midlands. There will be a visual police presence at key locations to offer reassurance to our communities,” said Matt Ward, Assistant Chief Constable of the police force.
“It is incredibly important that we unite together against those who seek to create discord, uncertainty and fear," he said.
The five mosques targeted included Witton Islamic Centre, Masjid Madrassa Faizal Islam, Al Habib Trust, Jamia Mosque, and Jam-E-Masjid Qiblah Hadhrat Sahib Gulhar Shareef. It led to increased patrols around Islamic places of worship in the city and across the UK.
Police said that CCTV is currently being examined and investigations remain ongoing in relation to the sixth mosque attack in Birmingham, which took place over the weekend. However, officers do not believe the latest attack to be linked to the attacks on five mosques earlier last week.
The UK’s Tell Mama [Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks] charity has found that in the week after 50 Muslim worshippers were gunned down in New Zealand, incidents of Islamophobia rocketed by almost 600 per cent in Britain, with offenders using “language, symbols or actions” linked to the atrocity to target Muslims in the UK.