Yahoo Lifestyle Sydney Woman Stands Up For Muslim Commuter Receiving Abuse On A Train
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A video of a woman defending a Muslim commuter wearing a headscarf has gone viral on Facebook in a real life act of the #IllRideWithYou movement.
Stacey Eden, 23 was riding a Sydney CityRail train from Town Hall to the airport at lunchtime on Wednesday when she witnessed a shocking incident of verbal abuse between commuters in her carriage. At about 1.30 pm a middle-aged woman began hurling abuse at a Muslim couple travelling with their baby. The woman criticised the Muslim wife for wearing a headscarf and blamed Islam for the Sydney Siege, the mass murder of Christians at a University in Kenya and ISIS. After ten minutes of the inflammatory abuse, Eden stepped in – filming the whole thing on her smartphone.
“What’s that got to do with that poor lady?” Eden said in the video, "She wears [the hijab] for herself."
She added: “That’s not her doing [those things]. That is a minority of people not a majority of people, OK. Have some respect.”
Eden has since posted the video to her Facebook. More than 630,000 people have viewed the video, and it has received some 40,000 likes, 6,600 comments and a further 8,900 people have shared the video, with many people calling Eden a “hero” and commending her bravery and strength.
“People need to stop judging and putting others down over religion!" Eden wrote. "Every religion has good and bad but if you take it back to the foundations, every religion is also built on love.”
The husband of the woman being attacked on the train, Hafeez Ahmed Bhatti, has since contacted Eden on Facebook to express his gratitude, adding “I generally believe that you and many other Australians do respect all religions.”
Eden responded saying “I wish I said more to you and your wife yesterday, but as I said when you got off the train, I’m very sorry you had to experience this. Please don’t let one woman’s ignorance change your opinions on Australia or the people who live here.”
You can watch the video here.
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