Herne Bay 'free shop' owner scared to leave home after alleged attacks
Maya Amangeldiyev, who runs foodbanks throughout the town, says she has been subject to a campaign of online harassment. Reporting by Oliver Leader De Saxe.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A pillar of the community fearing for her life.
00:05Maya Mangaldieva runs a number of food banks across Herne Bay, having moved to the UK from
00:11Turkmenistan 15 years ago.
00:15But since last Thursday, the foreign-born charity worker says she has found herself
00:20targeted by an online hate campaign, which she says culminated in a violent assault on
00:26the seafront.
00:28They said, you are dirty foreign immigrant, you're going to take the boat.
00:36I said, if you're not going to take it, we're going to come and finish you off.
00:45And it was a lot of dirty abuse, I can't.
00:53They were kicking me, they were pushing me.
00:58The attack has left her afraid to walk the streets, and scared for the safety of her
01:03family.
01:04I don't understand, I'm just a woman, I'm just a mother of kids.
01:10I just want them to leave me alone, just to leave me alone.
01:15Does it matter which country you're from?
01:18If you don't break any immigration rules, if I don't do anything wrong, does it matter?
01:23Kent Police say they are investigating a report of a public audit incident in which two people
01:29received verbal hate-related abuse.
01:33The incident was reported to Kent Police on Tuesday 6th August.
01:37And one of the victims also made officers aware of other incidents said to have occurred
01:41to her since Thursday, including harassment in person and online, damage to a window and
01:47an assault during the evening of Monday 5th August.
01:51Neighbourhood officers have spoken to the victims to gather evidence.
01:55And inquiries into the reports are ongoing, including a review of any available CCTV and
02:00doorbell footage.
02:03Since the alleged attack, the community in Herne Bay and across Kent has banded together.
02:10Since the attack, the amount of support that's been shown to my area, second to none, carts,
02:16flowers, people offering to help volunteer.
02:20It's been amazing.
02:21The town's really got behind her, you know, and it's really lovely to see.
02:27As investigations continue, posters on the seafront call for unity and love.
02:33But vandalism and graffiti speak to wider divisions.
02:37Oliver, Leader of the SAC, reporting for KMTV.