A Buckinghamshire woman who was seen holding a racist sign at the pro-Palestine march in London has demanded that the Crime Prosecution Service drop its investigation.
Marieha Mohsin Hussain, who is from Great Missenden, was one of 300,000 people who arrived in the capital on November 11, 2023, to show their support for the Middle Eastern country, by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza following the ongoing conflict with Israel.
During the rally, she was spotted holding a sign claiming that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former home secretary Suella Braverman were ‘coconuts’.
Yesterday a woman attended a police station, after a picture on social media showed a placard depicting two politicians as coconuts.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 15, 2023
The 36-year-old was interviewed under caution on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Thank you to all who have assisted.
This racist term is aimed at black, mixed race or Asian people who have allegedly ‘betrayed their race or culture by acting white’.
Not long after the image went viral across social media, a post from the official Metropolitan Police account confirmed that they had interviewed the teacher under caution on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Now, just over six months later, Hussain, who grew up in a £2m house in the leafy South Buckinghamshire village, has claimed on social media that the police interview she part took in was ‘abusive’, and that she’s been fired from her job.
In the one-minute clip, which has been shared on X [formerly known as Twitter], the teacher also revealed she has been ‘forced’ to leave her home, and that she’s had to ‘pull her son’ out of school for a short time.
Despite this, she did not apologise for her actions and suggested that ‘the real crime is being committed on the Palestine people’.
Abused, harassed, forced to leave home and has lost her job
— CAGE International (@CAGEintl) May 14, 2024
Marieha Hussein was hunted down, harassed and aggressively interviewed by Met police after attending a pro Palestine demo with a 🥥 sign of Sunak & Braverman.
Join us in demanding the case against Marieha is dropped.… pic.twitter.com/GNpStfbLLY
She said: “I had a placard with me depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts.
“A far-right pro-Zionist Twitter page uploaded my picture and within six minutes, it was commented by the Metropolitan Police saying they were looking for me.
“Since then, I have lost my job, I have been subjected to an ‘abusive police interview’, I’ve been harassed by the police in the middle of the night, I’ve had to leave home, I’ve had to leave my child behind and I had to pull my son out of school for a short time.
“I’m currently four, almost five months pregnant and I’m still in limbo on whether I’ll be charged or if this care will be dropped.
Yesterday a woman attended a police station, after a picture on social media showed a placard depicting two politicians as coconuts.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 15, 2023
The 36-year-old was interviewed under caution on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Thank you to all who have assisted.
“Six months down the line, we’ve had over 40,000 people killed in Gaza and the focus is on my placard, criminalising people like me.
“I ask the CPS to drop the case against me.
“There is no hate crime being committed.
“The real hate crime is being committed against the Palestinian people.
“Palestinians need us more than.
“They need our voices and they need our placards.
“Free Palestine.”
The clip has been viewed over one million times, with some supporting Hussain, whilst others have lambasted her.
This is very strange to be offended by. Because black & Asians always used this term to describe their own people acting out & rejecting their origin. It’s a light hearted joke, no one ever taken that as an offence.
— Umm Abdullah (@SalamMaya) May 14, 2024
Doesn’t the police have better things to do with their time?
She used a racial slur, there is no exemption from consequences just because she isn’t white. https://t.co/yDF3gsl0au
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) May 15, 2024
Her actions were a result of the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel.
Relations between the two nations have always been hostile since Israel declared independence from Mandatory Palestine in 1948.
But since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack which saw Hamas, a recognised terrorist group from Palestine, murder over 300 Israelis at the Re'im Music Festival, tensions have reach new levels of brutality from both nations.
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