Communities need to fight racism together, say campaigners who confronted EDL's racist thugs

Saffiyah Khan was snapped smiling at an English Defence League (EDL) protester in Birmingham and the next thing she knew, her photo had gone viral.

Khan, from Birmingham, was trying to defend British-Pakistani Saira Zafar, 24, who was surrounded by 25 men at a protest held in Centenary Square on Saturday by the white supremacist group. Saira Zafar who was there at the rally to take a stand against racism and xenophobia.

Khan is half-Pakistani, half-Bosnian and Saira Zafar was born to Pakistan parents in the UK.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, Saffiyah Khan and Saira Zafar spoke about the incident, their views on the rising racism against Asian and Muslim communities and their plans to do more to fight xenophobes.

“[The EDL] has a history of holding rallies taunting people of colour and Muslims. I was at the rally [because I believe] these communities shouldn’t feel intimidated by them,” Saffiyah Khan said.

She also stressed on the need for marginalised communities to work together to fight against racism and violence.

Saffiyah had told the media she saw the woman “360 surrounded...[by] big-looking EDL lads.”

"I don't like seeing people getting ganged up on in my town," she had told the media.

The protestors had then surrounded Saffiyah after she stepped up, which was snapped by a Press Association photographer.

Khan also said she was surprised the photo had become viral online.

Expectedly, she was the object of hate and trolling from various right-wing groups who openly hurled threats, including on their pages. Saffiyah calls some of the threats “laughable”.

 “I am not scared,” she told Geo when asked if she feels intimated by the threats by EDL, the notorious white supremacist group blamed for hate-related violence against non-white communities.

She had previously told the British media that she was not part of an organised protest and had decided "to stay out of the way" on seeing the woman surrounded by EDL members but changed her mind when another woman shouted "Islamophobe" at the members.

Now she says she is becoming more involved with groups combating against hate speech and racism against Asian and Muslim communities.

Soon after her picture went viral, she met with the woman she had defended in the rally.

Saira Zafar while talking to Geo News said her experience at the rally has made her even stronger.

She told Geo News: “I went to the EDL rally as I feel it is very important for any sort of hateful narrative to be challenged as we should not allow hate speech and targeting entire communities to become normalised. I initially intended to just hold a placard which said 'No To Islamophobia, No To War' but we couldn't take that so all I had was my voice, which I then used to counter the EDL. I then got surrounded by about EDL members who began shouting and being aggressive.

“They were saying ‘You’re not English,’ ‘This is a Christian country, not your country,’ and ‘Go back to your country,” Zafar said. She believes she was targeted for being Muslim as the EDL were looking at her aggressively before she had said anything. She recalled how Saffiyah then showed her solidarity and support.

Was Saira afraid of being surrounded by so many potentially violent men? She says she wasn’t intimidated by them at all. “In fact, it has made me stronger.”  EDL is a violent, racist organisation which is why they target entire communities, she added.

Both Muslim women agreed that Muslim and Asian communities in the UK need to cooperate and work together to devise ways to counter racism and Islamophobia.