Man tried to pull off woman's hijab in hate crime attack

Police are investigating a suspected hate crime after a man tried to pull off a Muslim woman's hijab and spat at her friend.

The woman, who posted about the incident on Twitter, was waiting for a Tube at Baker Street in the early hours of Saturday morning when she was set upon.

Tweeting under the name Aniso Abdulkadir, she posted a picture of the man who allegedly attacked her, writing: "This man at Baker Street station forcefully attempted to pull my hijab off and when I instinctively grabbed ahold of my scarf he hit me."

She continued: "He proceeded to verbally abuse my friends and I, pinning one of them against the wall and spitting in her face."

Ms Abdulkadir added that a woman who was present was also threatened and verbally abusive.

She urged others to share the image in order to identify the suspect, earning more than 24,000 retweets by Sunday afternoon.

A British Transport Police spokesman said the incident is being investigated as a hate crime, adding: "Behaviour like this is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

"This incident has been reported to us and we're investigating."

Inquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to get in touch by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40.