London: In a concerning incident highlighting rising hate speech in public places, a 26-year-old Indian-origin woman was verbally attacked by an allegedly intoxicated man on a train in the UK.
The event took place on Sunday while Gabrielle Forsyth was traveling from London to Manchester. During a conversation with another passenger about her charity work for immigrants, her mention of the word “immigrant” provoked a hostile reaction from a nearby man, who was drinking.
Captured on a now-deleted video, the man launched into a xenophobic tirade, making racist comments and boasting about England’s colonial history. He claimed, “You’re in England, you are claiming something… We conquered India, we didn’t want it; we gave it back to you.”
Recalling the incident, Forsyth expressed her shock at the man’s aggressive response to her comment. “It felt very jarring, and I knew what he was saying was wrong. I recorded it to protect myself,” she said.
After posting the video online, she faced an onslaught of hate messages, telling reporters, “The amount of hate I’ve received is insane. I’ve encountered slurs I didn’t even know existed. Violent rhetoric and hate speech spread so easily on platforms like X. I’m deeply concerned about the rights of people of color in this country; it feels like we’re regressing.”
Forsyth has reported the distressing incident to the British Transport Police (BTP) and articulated her pride in her Indian heritage, emphasizing, “Being the daughter of an immigrant and connecting with my history is a blessing. I stand up for myself and for people of color and fully support our community.”
This incident follows another recent racist confrontation on an Avanti West Coast train, where a woman told an NHS dentist to “go back to your own country.” The dentist, born in the UK, engaged with her about her disrespectful comments, leading to a heated exchange.
These incidents have raised alarms about increasing intolerance and racial abuse in public spaces throughout the UK.