Woman Admits in Court to Harassing UK Pride Celebrants
A Muslim woman who was caught on video harassing Pride celebrants with anti-LGBTQ abuse last summer has admitted to it in court, reports UK newspaper the Daily Mail.
Jamila Choudhury was dressed in a niqab - a face-covering veil - as she harassed people walking in a London Pride parade last June 27, the newspaper article said. Choudhury screamed "Shame on you, you shameless people," and called parade participants "despicable." At one point, reports said, she followed a parade organizer named Carol Vincent, shrieking invective into Vincent's face.
Vincent submitted a statement to the court in which she said that she was "shocked" by Choudhury's outburst.
"I was shaken, she because she came out aggressively shouting and pointing abuse to the marchers, which included children, including my grandson," Vincent recalled in her statement.
Choudhury also reached for a time-worm chestnut from the annals of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, shrieking, "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," reported British new source Metro.
Choudhury seemed to be set off by the parade passing by her place of employment, where she works as a receptionist, reports noted. She was charged on Sept. 5 with offenses that included hurling abuse intended to "cause alarm," and appeared in court on Oct. 3.
The judge in the case told Choudhury that her conduct amounted to "an attack on [the LGBTQ] community." The judge handed down a three-month sentence but suspended the sentence.
The suspect reportedly suffers from ill health, and the Daily Mail reported that Choudhury herself was "shocked" when she saw herself in the video footage.
The report also noted that Choudury had previously had a brush with the law after subjecting a public transportation worker to a racial slur.
Watch the video of the incident below.