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Man Arrested for Targeting Muslim Woman over Brussels

CAIRO – A British man in Croydon, north London, has been arrested for inciting racial hatred on social media after tweeting that he confronted a Muslim woman asking her to explain Brussels.

“We have arrested a 46-year-old man on suspicion of inciting racial hatred on social media,” a spokesman for Scotland Yard said, the Independent reported on Thursday, March 24.

“He was arrested tonight at an address in Croydon and remains in custody at a south London police station.”

The dilemma started after a man, believed to be Mathew P Doyle, posted a tweet on Wednesday morning saying, “I confronted a Muslim woman yesterday in Croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said ‘Nothing to do with me’. A mealy mouthed reply.”‘

The tweet followed attacks on Brussels that left 31 people killed and nearly 200 injured.

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The comment went viral on the social media site before being deleted, sparking anger over Doyle’s move to target a random woman to explain terrorism to him.

People replied to his comment asking him to explain the actions of white terrorist Anders Breivik, colonization or slavery.

“I approached a white man in Camden this morning, asked him to explain Anders Breivik,” one wrote on Twitter.

“Please explain colonization. Slavery. Brittish [sic] Imperialism. Christian Extremists. Please,” another tweeted.

“What if we all started demanding random white men on the street explain slavery, colonisation, genocide, rape,” a third wrote.

Other laughed out of his tweet, seeking to distance themselves from the Croydon Crusader.

“As a white man this has nothing to do with me,” one tweeted.

Defense

Seeing the huge reaction on twitter, Doyle, who works for a PR company, attempted to explain the tweet as a publicity stunt.

“@Gweskoyen It is all a wind up !,” he wrote. “I am in PR.”

The tone changed quickly after he admitted the incident did happen.

“Thank you for your thoughts. The incident did happen yesterday – If I was anyway threatening – I would be reported. Confront is a bad word.”

“Who cares if I insulted some towelhead ?? Really,” he added later.

Defending his comments, Doyle said he confronted the woman because she was wearing an Islamic headscarf, or hijab.

“She was wearing a flag. If I was walking down the street wearing a jacket emblazoned with a Union Jack then I would be open to some abuse,” he told the Huffington Post.

“When asked if he approaches Jewish men wearing skullcaps to question them on the ongoing Israel/Palestine situation he exclaimed: “Absolutely not!”

A Financial Times opinion poll showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims, estimated by 2.7 million.

A poll of the Evening Standard found that a sizable section of London residents harbor negative opinions about Muslims.

Hundreds of anti-Muslim hate offences have been carried out across UK in 2013, with Britain’s Metropolitan police recording an increase of 49% than 2012.

The Metropolitan Police recorded 500 Islamophobic offencses from January to mid-November that year, compared with 336 offences in 2012 and 318 in 2011.