Woman filmed hurling homophobic abuse at people marching in the Waltham Forest Pride parade

Words: Steve Brown

Police are investigating a homophobic attack after a woman shouted ‘shame of you’ during Waltham Forest Pride over the weekend.

A video posted on Twitter shows a woman wearing a niqab hurling abuse at people – including one person draped in a rainbow flag – during the Pride event on July 27.

In the footage, the woman can be heard shouting: “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Shame on you, shame on all of you.

“Shame on you, you despicable people. Shame on you, you shameless people.”

Apparently this is from Waltham Forest Pride today. Slightly surreal to hear the Muslim woman quote a line from Alan Partridge when berating this poor man. pic.twitter.com/EYp2O6vivQ

— Paul Embery (@PaulEmbery) July 27, 2019

The Met Police said no one has been arrested at the moment but tweeted: “Abusing someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is a hate crime.

“If you have been verbally or physically abused, harassed or attacked in any way by someone because you are or they think you are LGBT+ please report these crimes to police or through a third party agency.”

Following the incident, the Waltham Forest Pride organising committee issued a statement and said: “Yesterday, 27 July 2019, saw hundreds of people from the LGBTQ+ community along with their friends and allies from all walks of life, take part in the first-ever Pride Parade in Waltham Forest.

“We were delighted that people from all the major faiths, Christian, Jewish and Muslim marched alongside non-religious people to show everyone in our great borough of Waltham Forest that we’re here, queer and proud of who we are, and celebrate and cherish the diversity that makes us one of the greatest communities in London.

“This morning we were made aware of a video showing an individual shouting homophobic abuse at some in the parade.

“The police are looking into this as a potential hate crime and while we condemn all homophobic abuse, we also condemn outrightly and unequivocally all forms of hatred and abuse, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and want to make it absolutely clear that this was one, lone individual and in no way do these views represent the views of any section of the local community.

“It’s depressing, but comes as no surprise, that far-right commentators like Katie Hopkins have seized on this video and tried to use it to hasten their twisted view of society in order to stigmatise the Muslim community in Waltham Forest.

“We utterly condemn her, and anyone else, who attempts to use this incident to fan the flames of discord between communities in our great borough. Hear this – it hasn’t worked in the past, it won’t work now, and it never will.

“We will continue to work with the Muslim community and value their support, because none of us are free until all of us are free.”