A Slough resident was charged on Friday for assaulting and harassing an Orthodox Jewish man, the Thames Valley Police said on Friday.
Forty-eight-year-old Shafiq Rahman, has reportedly been charged with one count of racially/religiously aggravated common assault, racially/religiously aggravated fear/provocation of violence by words, and criminal damage.
He has been remanded to appear before the Reading Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
It was announced that Rahman had been arrested on Thursday after a video of a Monday altercation went viral on social media.
The suspect allegedly made verbally abusive and antisemitic comments to a 20-year-old man and may have attempted to snatch the phone from the victim’s hand. According to a video published online by the London North and East Shomrim, the suspect approached the victim on a bike and demanded to know what the visibly Jewish man was doing in the area.
“F**king baby killer,” said the assailant, according to the video. “I’ll break your jaw, you f**king dirty little f**ker.”
The victim denied that he had harmed any children, to which the suspect asserted that the Jewish man had been “killing babies in Palestine.”
The attacker appeared to make several attempts to grab or strike the phone while the victim was filming the altercation.
“Dirty motherf**king Jew,” the man said in the Shomrim video.
Victim was 'minding his own business'
Shomrim said on X/Twitter that the victim was “minding his own business while at work when he was subjected to this shocking, unprovoked attack.”
Berkshire East Priority Crime Team Investigating officer Detective Inspector Terry Dixon said in a Thursday statement that police were aware “this incident will cause a great deal of concern within our Jewish communities. I would like to reassure you that we are progressing this investigation as a priority.”
“Antisemitic incidents, or indeed any hate-related incident reported in the Thames Valley, will not be tolerated by police, and we will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice,” Dixon continued.
Shomrim and the Community Security Trust on X/Twitter thanked the Thames Valley Police for their quick response to the incident.