A taxi driver narrowly escaped serious injury when an axe was hurled through his rear passenger window in Edinburgh – an attack that counter-terror police are now investigating as a suspected terror incident.
CCTV footage shows a topless man driving erratically before abandoning his car and lunging at a random black man and a delivery rider while smoking and brandishing two large knives. He is alleged to have thrown an axe through the window of a taxi; the driver avoided being hit by moving his car forward an inch just as it was thrown.
“Axe thrown through taxi window as topless man shouts anti-Muslim slurs; five injured in suspected terror attack.”
As the man was pinned to the floor, he was allegedly heard shouting: 'I’m protecting the country from these f**g Muslim b****s raping our young daughters, raping our kids. Enough is enough.'
Five men were injured in the attacks – two aged 22, and others aged 24, 27 and 39. Three were taken to hospital. Two of the younger victims had been at Broomhouse mosque just before the attack and had 'only arrived in the city a couple of weeks ago,' according to Daniel Gilius, Scotland Regional Manager of Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND).
Gilius said: 'Several of the injured are well known to the community… The man who was driving the car was just seconds from severe injury and it was only because he was able to move his car a few inches forward at the time of the attack that the axe did not cause serious harm.'
He also condemned social media trolls who hailed the suspect as a 'hero', saying: 'These hateful and vile comments on our social media posts are, sadly, no surprise. Despite these brutal attacks targeting innocent people, the far-right have no sympathy or compassion… Islamophobia is nothing new, but one of the most alarming trends in recent months and years is voices whom we would usually expect to call out far-right extremism are fading into silence.'
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – distanced himself from the attack despite stoking Islamophobic rhetoric online. Gilius added: 'Speaking broadly rather than about any particular individual, far right influencers are often quick to distance themselves when attacks take place, but we know that Islamophobic extremism has a root cause and that radicalisation takes place online with disastrous consequences.'
Edinburgh Green MSPs said in a statement: 'Hatred has been whipped up and amplified by algorithms and by powerful voices.' They declared there is 'no place' for anti-Muslim attacks, as leaders across the city united to condemn the violence.