A London Nando’s waitress has spoken out publicly since images of her being assaulted at work went viral online. The young woman, Zahra, posted a video to TikTok and explained that a colleague had guided a man and woman with a small child to their table. The colleague was new and unaware that she should have offered them a table in a different part of the restaurant because a baby’s high chair could not fit next to their seats. Zahra then went to the table and asked the family to move to another area. She stated that the father then became enraged, picked up a plate, and hit her in the face with it.
She noted that two police officers were in the restaurant at the time, so Zahra went to tell them that she had been assaulted. The young student explained that the first officer ignored her and told her to speak to a colleague, and the second officer then took the man outside and talked to him. After a couple of moments, the police allowed the assailant to walk away despite Zahra’s insistence that she wanted to press charges against him.
The young waitress pursued the matter and contacted senior police to complain but was told that the man who had hit her felt threatened by her and lashed out in defense. In her TikTok video, Zahra pointed out that she is five feet tall and slim, whereas her assailant is a large man, and she makes no aggressive moves toward him.
Only after CCTV footage of the incident went viral online did the police open an investigation. So far, they say they are unable to locate the man. Critics point out that video clips show him paying for his meal with a credit card, meaning he could easily be tracked down.
Police are increasingly under fire in the UK as many people complain about the lack of justice and the politicization of policing. Protests recently took place across the country against what many Britons see as two-tier justice – they blame officers for ignoring several crimes while cracking down hard on protests against them or the government’s lack of commitment to equal treatment.
