A pregnant woman wearing a headscarf was viciously attacked in a café in a town near Sydney, New South Wales police said Thursday.
The incident happened on Wednesday night in Paramatta, about 15 miles west of Sydney, the police said in a statement.
The 31-year-old woman, who the police said was 38 weeks’ pregnant, was sitting at a table, eating and chatting with friends.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a man slowly approaching the victim, leaning over the table before punching her in the head.
In the statement, the police said the man allegedly “punched the woman in the head multiple times before she fell to the ground where it's alleged the man stomped on her head.”
اعتداء عنصري بالضرب على امرأة #مسلمة حامل تدعى "رنا الأسمر 31 عاما" في الشهور الأخيرة من الحمل، في #أستراليا،… pic.twitter.com/sIIuA6Z3bO
— DOAM (@doamuslims) November 21, 2019
The footage shows fellow customers eventually restraining the man, who was then arrested by the police at the scene.
The police said the 43-year-old man has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and affray.
The victim was admitted to hospital for observation after the attack, the police said.
The Australian National Imams Council, the body that unites Australia-based Muslim clerics and scholars, said it was “appalled” by the attack. In a statement issued on Friday, the council called on the government to “acknowledge that Islamophobia is a serious danger and act in protecting its citizens.”
The council said it reached out to the victim, who said “the offender made anti-Islamic comments before attacking her.”
Mehreen Faruqi, a Greens senator for New South Wales and the first Muslim woman to sit in Australia's parliament, called the attack “absolutely sickening.” “We should all be able to go about our lives free from violence, harassment and intimidation,” she tweeted.
