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A Muslim man was asked to leave a London Underground train after using an iPad

Dec 11, 2015, 13:48 IST

Commuters board an underground train at King's Cross station in London April 29, 2014.REUTERS/Neil Hall

A Muslim man was told to leave a London Underground train after a fellow passenger reported his "suspicious" iPad use, according to The Evening Standard.

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The man, who has not been identified, was asked to leave a Piccadilly Line train near Finsbury Park in north London.

Several reports from people who witnessed the event described it as racially motivated. The man was using his Apple iPad and, when he noticed someone staring at him, switched it off.

"I took my headphones off and realised [a man] was asking someone who looked Arabic to get off the train amongst other things because he felt threatened by him," a witness said. "A couple of women, one sitting down, one standing up immediately interjected; the Arabic man looked pretty shocked and clearly didn't know what to do."

Jonny got off the train with the man at Wood Green station and said he tried to reassure him that the first commuter's reaction was not justified.

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He said: "It made me pretty sad and angry to actually see an incident like that but also the reaction of the people coming together to vastly outnumber a bigot was pretty heart-warming."

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Islamophobia watchdog Tell MAMA, told The Standard that people "simply cannot let basal fears mean that our fellow citizens, British Muslims, who are part and parcel of our country, be consigned to a group of people that we are fearful of."

A spokesman for British Transport Police (BTP) said: "Everyone has the right to travel safely, and nobody should feel threatened on the rail network.

"Anyone who has been a victim of hate crime or has witnessed an incident should contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40. In an emergency always call 999."

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