Mum-of-seven left in tears by racist tirade from elderly man at Manchester shopping centre
Police probe after Masarit Begum, 42, subject to volley of abuse on her way home from dropping kids off at school
A MUM was subjected to a vile racist tirade as she walked through a shopping centre.
Masarit Begum, 42, says she was left in tears after an elderly man muttered “flippping P**** everywhere” when she passed him at the mall in Manchester.
When she challenged him, he reportedly turned and shouted "go back to your own f****** country" before repeatedly telling her to "**** off".
The mum-of-seven, from Manchester, whose family are of Kashmiri origin, says she was left in tears after the shocking outburst.
She said: “I was walking into the mall as an elderly white man looked at me and said, ‘P**** everywhere’. I asked him if he was talking to me because I was shocked.
"He turned back and said, 'F****** go back to your own f****** country’.
“When something like this happens to you it’s a real shock. I was in tears because it’s not a rare occurrence, I get this many times. "The management were fairly unsympathetic and asked for a description.
“It’s traumatic to be abused totally unprovoked when I did nothing to harm him.”
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Masarit had just dropped off her children at Sale Grammar School and was walking through the mall when it happened.
She reported the incident to shopping centre managers and Greater Manchester Police. Officers are now investigating the incident.
The mum says she has been told there is little possibility that the man will be identified.
But she says she is determined to take a stand after estimating that she experiences racism at least twice a month.
She added: “Because this happened at the mall I thought there would be some evidence, but there isn’t.
“It happens a lot. I recently had something flicked at me by a group of grown men and they called me an ‘****ing ****’. Sometimes it happens so quickly it’s too late to be pulling out cameras and filming it.
“If you are blessed with white skin you will never know what it’s like to be treated in this manner.
“I’m 42 years old now and after all these years I’m taking a stand. It’s just unacceptable.”
Gareth Wilkins, Stretford Mall centre manager, said that he has spoken with Mrs Begum and confirmed that security staff had provided CCTV footage to police to help with their investigation.
He said: “Following the incident, our security contractors undertook a review of the CCTV footage from the centre. Their initial search of footage had concentrated on the area of the centre originally specified in the complaint, but after they expanded the search area they uncovered footage which was then passed to police to assist in any criminal investigation.
“I would like to take this opportunity to again apologise to Mrs Begum for her experience, and reassure her and the community that as a centre we have a zero tolerance policy for aggressive or offensive behaviour of any kind.
“Any shopper found to be making racist or offensive comments will be banned from entering the centre ever again.”
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