EMIRATI TELLS OF ATTACK BY VANDAL IN LONDON
▶ Abdullah Al Hosani beaten as he attempts to stop man from painting graffiti on cars
An Emirati student living in London described how he was struck in the head a dozen times while trying to stop a man who was spraying graffiti on cars.
Abdullah Al Hosani, 31, became involved in a struggle when he stopped his 4x4 close to the Harrods department store in Knightsbridge and challenged the suspect.
The assault on Saturday evening was captured on video and appeared on social media.
Mr Al Hosani told The National that the man was spraying the word “war” and what is thought to have been an intended sectarian slur on vehicles with Gulf-registered plate numbers on Brompton Road.
“I saw a man in a black mask, spray-painting messages like ‘war’ and ‘Ali’ on cars with plate numbers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE,” he said. The word ‘Ali’ may have referred to the revered religious figure.
“I drove close to him and he didn’t notice that I was behind because he was spray painting the car in front of me.”
Mr Al Hosani then reached out of the window of his white Mercedes G-Wagen and grabbed the suspect by both arms.
“I wanted to keep him in place until I could get the police to come,” said the Coventry University business administration student, who has lived in the UK for three years.
He said the suspect then started to hit him on the head with the spray can as a passer-by captured footage of the assault.
Mr Al Hosani said he had inched his car close to the other vehicle, trapping the suspect between his car and the one in front.
“He actually asked me to please call the police and said he was done,” Mr Al Hosani said. “I never once laid a finger on him.” He was worried that his attacker would claim he was to blame, he said.
“If I had hit him back then I, too, would be questioned and investigated and maybe charged with assault.
“The United Kingdom is a country that respects and follows law, there was no need for me to lay a finger on him.”
Mr Al Hosani said he pulled the mask from the suspect’s face and that an employee at a nearby restaurant ran out and helped to hold the man while police were called.
He said the suspect continued to try to kick him until police arrived.
Mr Al Hosani was sent to hospital and released four hours later.
“The injuries are minor. I have a strong head like most Emiratis. We get hit a lot on the head,” he said with a laugh.
“The embassy immediately contacted me and Foreign Affairs [Ministry] asked if I was OK and if I needed security, but I declined.
“London is safe and nothing in my life will change after this incident,” said Mr Al Hosani. Metropolitan Police detectives said a man in his 20s appeared in Westminster Magistrates court yesterday charged with assault and criminal damage in relation to Saturday night’s incident.
Shop owners and businessmen were shocked to hear of the attack as they opened for business yesterday.
Ahmed Abid, an Iraqi-born hairdresser who works in a salon on Brompton Road, said his Middle East customers saw the attack on social media and contacted him asking whether they will be safe in London.
Mr Abid spent yesterday morning reassuring his outof-town clients that London is open for business.
“They are scared. But I cannot say ‘don’t come to London’,” Mr Abid said. “This is Knightsbridge. This is the heart of London. This is a five-star area – an Arab area with people from Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar – everybody comes here in the summer after Ramadan. But if this continues happening, they won’t come.
“They will go to Spain. Or America. Or Germany. They will go to other countries,” he said.
Akrim Knin, a local businessman, said police must step up security in the Knightsbridge area, a wealthy enclave in west London where two-bedroom flats sell for upwards of £4 million (Dh20.89m) and customers wearing £100,000 watches spend large sums in high-end shops.
Shisha cafes, Mercedes SUVs and nightclubs line the streets.
“Nobody can believe that in Knightsbridge, opposite Harrods, they see these rubbish people. This shouldn’t be in England. We don’t need people like that,” said Mr Knin, who is originally from Tunisia.
“The police come and get the CCTV but they need to do more. They need to show there is security.”
He actually asked me to please call the police and said he was done. I never once laid a finger on him
ABDULLAH AL HOSANI
Emirati student