Muslim woman reports hate-filled confrontation

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This article was published 03/11/2023 (716 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Muslim woman says she was verbally harassed and violently confronted Friday while dropping off her child at school in Fort Richmond.

Sarwat Qureshi said she reported the alleged hate crime to city police and is hoping the lone male suspect will be caught and charged for shouting anti-Muslim slurs and attempting to damage her vehicle.

The Winnipeg Police Service couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Qureshi told the Free Press she was driving her 13-year-old son to school when she saw a man walking along the side of the road. He looked to be in his 50s, about 5-5 with orange-and-white streaked hair, wearing black clothes and had dark painted nails, she said.

Thinking the stranger needed help, Qureshi, who wears a hijab, said she slowed down along Kilkenny Drive and rolled down her window. “He was yelling. Saying, ‘Go back to your effing country. Get out of my country Muslim pigs, killers.’”

Not wanting to engage, Qureshi drove away. “I downplayed the incident. I didn’t want (my son) to be afraid.”

Despite taking a different route back from the school, Qureshi said she encountered the man again on Rochester Avenue.

Deciding to take his picture and file a police complaint, Qureshi drove up alongside the man.

“He showed me a (middle) finger and then he jumped on my car and tried to open the door,” she said.

The door was locked and the window was up, but the man continued to hit and kick her car and tried to break the side mirror as she drove away, Qureshi said.

Qureshi, whose family have lived in Fort Richmond for 13 years, said she’s worried for other Muslims, particularly girls who wear hijab. Schools in the area have large Muslim populations, she said.

“My kid walks home from school all the time, and this person was on foot, so I’m assuming he… wasn’t coming from far. We are scared for our kids.”

City police have previously acknowledged a rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish crimes, including a potentially targeted shooting, which they’ve linked to the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

Qureshi said she doesn’t know if the Middle East conflict spurred the man’s outburst, but said regardless of the motivation, it’s unacceptable.

“To be called killers, it’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I’m shaken, and I’m getting more angry as I’m processing this… You hear about this hate, you read it in the news, but when you experience it, it’s something that’s indescribable.”

The Manitoba Islamic Association issued a news release denouncing the incident. It asked the public for help in providing any relevant information to police.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com