Business owner Dr Zohaib Arshad has said a group of men hurled racist abuse at him before punching him and smashing his head into a wall in the street in Falkirk. The 39-year-old said the unprovoked attack happened on Grahams Road last month, when he was visiting one of his takeaway shops.
Arshad said the men asked him when he was “leaving the country” before attacking him. He patched himself up with glue stitches rather than wait at A&E, and said his children are now fearful of being attacked in school.
BBC Scotland understands police are treating the incident as a hate crime. A spokesperson for the force said inquiries into the attack are ongoing.
Arshad stood as an Alba Party candidate for Falkirk at the 2024 General Election and is now a member of the SNP.
His political connections have resulted in the issue being brought to the attention of the Scottish Parliament, external - however he fears it would have gone unnoticed had he been any other member of the public.
He said he had just parked his car and was walking to one of his shops on the evening of Monday 20 July when the group approached him.
“Two or three guys approached me and said 'when are you leaving the country by the way?'”
The businessman said he tried to walk away, but one of the group banged his head into the wall.
“I had blood all over my face and in my eyes and when I was cleaning up the blood from my eyes one of the guys punched me on my head a few times,” he said.
He said he then ended up in a fight with one of the men as he tried to defend himself, and that the man threatened to stab him.
Despite there being lots of people around, he said nobody came to help.
“Everybody got their phone at that time instead of helping me or helping that guy to take the situation out. Everybody was just filming us,” he said.
Dr Zohaib Arshad, pictured with Martyn Day MSP, is a member of the SNP
The 39-year-old said that after calling the police it took 45 minutes for officers to arrive, by which time the men had left the scene.
When Arshad called for an ambulance, he claims he was told to make his own way to A&E.
“I called A&E and A&E said oh it's 14 hours to get the stitches,” he said.
He feared that leaving the wound untreated for that long would leave him with a worse scar, so called some of his friends who work in medicine to see if they had “glue stitches at home” and stitched the wound up in “the back of the shop”.
Following the attack, Arshad said his family are “terrified” and he is being “much more vigilant”.
“My wee boy, he's nine and said 'dad, if I go to school, can they do it to me as well?'”
He added that despite his wife and his mother urging him to move to France where he lived previously, he has no plans to leave Scotland.
“We cannot leave anything just because of one bad person - defeat is not an option,” he said.
What happened in Glasgow?
It comes at a time of heightened tension over the issue of immigration in Scotland.
Police made several arrests in the opening weekend of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after masked demonstrators rampaged through the city and targeted people for the colour of their skin.
Earlier in the day a peaceful anti-racism protest had been taking place at Glasgow Green before anti-immigration protesters arrived at the same location - police estimated 1,700 people had attended.
Later that day a group marching through the city shouted racist abuse and hurled a traffic cone at a delivery driver who was picking up an order.
A video of the attack on Muhammad Jawad Yaqoob circulated on social media - it shows a number of young men shouting “get them out” before one throws the orange cone. They cheer as Yaquoob runs away from them into a nearby restaurant.
Police Scotland said it was investigating the incident.
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Key Facts
- Dr Zohaib Arshad said he was attacked on Grahams Road in Falkirk last month.
- He said the men asked when he was “leaving the country” before the assault.
- BBC Scotland understands police are treating the incident as a hate crime.
- Arshad said the attack left his family “terrified” and his children fearful of being attacked at school.
- Police said inquiries into the incident are ongoing.
