A takeaway owner in Falkirk has described a violent attack during which he was subjected to racist abuse, recounting the incident as police investigate it as a hate crime. The owner, Dr. Zohaib Arshad, sustained a facial injury above his left eye during the assault last month.
Dr. Arshad reported that a group of men hurled racist slurs at him before physically assaulting him. He stated that after calling the police, it took 45 minutes for officers to arrive, by which time the perpetrators had already left the scene. When he attempted to call for an ambulance, he was allegedly told to make his own way to A&E. Faced with a 14-hour wait for stitches, Dr. Arshad resorted to contacting friends in the medical field who provided him with supplies to close the wound himself in the back of his shop.
Following the attack, Dr. Arshad shared that his family is experiencing fear, and he himself is being more vigilant. He recounted a conversation with his nine-year-old son, who asked if he could also be targeted at school. Despite his wife and mother urging him to relocate to France, where he previously lived, Dr. Arshad expressed his determination to stay. "We cannot leave anything just because of one bad person - defeat is not an option," he stated.
