A video of a man insulting and threatening a woman on a busy London subway has gone viral on Twitter
- A clip of London subway passengers defending a woman who was threatened by a man has gone viral.
- The video has been reposted several times and amassed thousands of views on Twitter.
A video showing a woman being threatened by a man on a busy London subway has gone viral on Twitter.
In the video, a man can be seen shouting at a woman at the other end of what appears to be a carriage on the Central line subway in London. The man can be seen gesturing towards her before saying, "You're hiding behind the fact that you're a woman."
He can then be heard adding, "Oh I'm such a horrible man because I said I'd smack you in your mouth."
The man can then be heard calling the woman a series of expletives and insults before saying, "I will knock you the fuck out." The woman responds by insulting the man, who then appears to lunge towards her.
Three passengers can be seen dragging the man away from her and pushing him to the ground. The video shows two other passengers running across the carriage and attempting to restrain the man.
The video went viral after being originally being posted by Twitter user @EssexU14ESDG on Saturday, with the clip amassing nearly 30,000 views before the account went private.
The video was posted in response to a tweet announcing the partial re-opening of London's late-night subway service, known as the night Tube, which was suspended in March 2020 due to COVID-19.
It comes amid growing concerns over women's safety in the UK following the murders of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard this year, which sparked an online petition signed by over 150,000 people for the night Tube to be re-opened.
The Twitter user said the incident took place on London's Central line subway late on Friday night, writing that "these incidents occur more regular gone midnight [sic]."
The user added, "I'm just glad there were people on the train, there often isn't later on at night." The Twitter user did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In the replies, some people praised the other passengers for stepping in, with many dubbing them "heroes." Others questioned why they didn't intervene sooner, noting that the passengers remained seated while the apparent verbal altercation took place.
Several users also tweeted in response to the video talking about similar experiences of witnessing men being intimidating towards women on public transport.
A spokesperson for the British Transport Police (BTP) did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but told local outlets MyLondon and the Evening Standard that no arrests have been made as the incident was unreported at the time.
In a further statement to the Evening Standard, the spokesperson said, "We are aware of this video that is being circulated on social media and our officers are looking into it further. We're asking anyone with further details to text us on 61016 with the reference 681 of 16/10/21."
In an email statement to Insider, Siwan Hayward, director of compliance, policing, operations, and security at Transport for London, said, "We were shocked by this horrible incident on the Central line and our thoughts are with the woman who was abused in this appalling way. We condemn all forms of violence and abuse on our network and are working closely with police to keep our customers and staff safe [...] We will provide full support to the BTP's investigation."
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