A Dundee shopkeeper says he is suffering a tirade of abuse at the hands of local teens, including racial slurs.
Khalid Mirza and his family have served the people of Stobswell for over 40 years in their Arbroath Road corner shop, Mirza & Co.
But Khalid says the shop has been the target of harassment by male pupils of nearby Morgan Academy for the last two months.
This has included swearing, throwing stones and bottles at the shop and kicking the door.
But the 68-year-old store owner says the latest incident on Saturday night involved racial abuse for the first time.
Police have confirmed they are treating the complaint as a hate crime.
“You feel a bit helpless,” said Khalid.
“It gets to around lunchtime and you start expecting them to come in and cause problems when I’ve got enough going on.”
Youths ‘racially abused’ shop owner
He added: “They’ve been in four times, but Saturday was the first time they racially abused me.
“Usually they’re swearing, throwing stones at the window, throwing bottles, kicking the door.
“Every time I’ve called the police but they just come back and do it again.”
Khalid said a representative from Morgan Academy visited the shop after Khalid reported the first incident to the police.
He shared the CCTV footage of the harassment with the school representative during the visit.
However the boys have repeatedly returned to the corner shop, sometimes during school lunch breaks.
“I knew as soon as they came in on Saturday night there would be trouble,” he said.
“They started messing about with things so I just told them to leave.
“They keep coming back and causing problems.
“I walked them to the door and the main boy said he wasn’t leaving and stood there.
“At that point, what do you do? You feel quite helpless.
“Your hands are tied and you can’t push them out because then I’m in trouble, when they’re harassing me.”
The group eventually left, however they returned twice more to throw stones at the the windows and kick the front door.
Khalid stood outside the shop telling the boys to go away but says they continued to swear at him and make obscene gestures.
Police investigation
He added: “I’ve seen a lot worse in my time here but it’s annoying when someone bothers you when you’re not bothering anyone.
“I’m trying to give a service to the local people, there’s no need for it.”
Police confirmed they are investigating an alleged race hate crime in Dundee.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 6.05pm on Saturday January 8, officers were called to a premises on Arbroath Road, Dundee, following a report of an alleged hate crime involving a number of youths.
“Inquiries are ongoing.”
Councillor Lynne Short, the local authority’s spokesperson for fairness and equalities, says hate crime is a matter for the police but racism is “just not acceptable”.
