Man defends young girl from racist attack on the Tube

'We need to start speaking up and defending each other'

Ashley Powys said he escorted the girl off the Tube at her stop (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

A man has defended a young girl wearing a hijab on the Tube after she was verbally abused with racist terms by another man.

Ashley Powys said the man was “reeling off abuse… and saying that ‘her people’ murdered the victims of the Paris attacks this weekend”.

Mr Powys, from London, wrote on Facebook that he had to “physically push” the man away from the girl.

“[The man] then luckily turned his attention onto me, calling me a ‘terrorist sympathiser,’ among other things.”

The 22-year-old said he stayed with the girl, named Yara, and escorted her off the train at her stop. She said she often received abuse, according to Mr Powys.

In his Facebook post, which details the incident, Mr Powys urged others to stand in solidarity following the Paris attacks. The post has garnered more than 22,000 ‘likes’ and it has been shared more than 7,700 times.

“What happened in Paris this weekend was an atrocity. What happens every day in the Middle East is an atrocity. And the only way to move forward and to recover is in solidarity as one people who won't be terrorised,” said Mr Powys.

Ashley Powys said he had to push the man away from the girl (Ashley Powys/Facebook)

He was shocked that no one else stood up for the woman on the train: “They sat in silence and allowed that abuse to happen. That's the problem with our society. Silence is our biggest weakness. We need to start speaking up and defending each other.”

“I want us to send a message to Islamic State, and any other group who inspire fear and hatred. I want us to send the message that what they destroy, we'll rebuild together. What lives they take, we'll remember together. And what people they target, we'll protect together.”

Mr Powys told the Evening Standard he hoped Yara saw the Facebook post so that she knew there were "thousands and thousands of people out there who are actually on [her] side”.