Pic: Twitter

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of posting a racist video targeting Muslim schoolgirls.

In a tweet on Monday, Tower Hamlets Police confirmed the arrest of a man on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence following the posting of the video online last Friday.

The footage circulating on social media showed pupils from an East London secondary school wearing Hijabs.

As a man approaches them, he is heard insulting them. He is then heard making more racist and insulting comments.

In a joint statement John Biggs, the mayor of Tower Hamlets, and local councillor Asma Begum described the video as “appalling”. They highlighted the “critical” role of the council’s CCTV footage in helping police identify the suspect.

Councillor Asma Begum said that Tower Hamlets council “will always challenge negativity” and she emphasised that the borough is proud to be “home to people from all over the world”. Tower Hamlets has one of the UK’s largest Muslim community.

In 2018, the most widely reported anti-Muslim hate crime was classified as ‘abusive behaviour’. The monitoring group Tell Mama has also said that the largest proportion of street-based incidents took place within public areas such as parks and shopping areas.