British biker Liam Bradley has complained of “racism” after being commanded to remove his open crash helmet at a petrol station, while a woman in a “burqa” filled up beside him without issue.
“Told to remove my helmet while filling mine and students bikes [sic],” wrote Mr Bradley, an experienced motorcycle instructor, on Facebook.
“I was wearing a flip front white helmet in the up position and my company name all over mine & students hi viz [high visibility] jackets.
“Mean while a Asian wearing a burka was allowed to fill up her car [sic],” he added.
“Racism at work in Britain… Don’t let them get away with it.”
The 48-year-old’s post ended up receiving over 6,000 likes, shares, and comments, taking the biker very much by surprise.
The main arguments against restricting Islamic full face veils advanced by establishment ‘conservatives’ and left-liberals tend to centre on the state not having the right to tell people what to wear, but Mr Bradley’s case underscores the fact that it already does so in a variety of circumstances, relating not just to crash helmets but also ski masks, balaclavas, general nudity, and female toplessness.
“It just annoyed me basically,” said Mr Bradley, a white male, in comments reported by the Mirror.
“The main reason it annoyed me is because it is a petrol station I’ve used hundreds of times because we work in the area.
“We used to use the petrol station as a rest break with the students and they would go and buy their chocolate and drinks from there.
“So we are always seen around that station and have always been nothing but courteous or respectful.”
“I had an open face helmet so people could see my identity. The lady behind the till has served me on hundreds of occasions,” he added.
The incident occurred — purely by coincidence, according to Mr Bradley — as the furore surrounding Brexiteer MP Boris Johnson’s critical remarks on the burqa continues to rumble on.
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, from the Labour Party, branded both Mr Johnson and the leader of UKIP’s Welsh Assembly contingent, Gareth Bennett, “racist”, and insisted the Welsh Government would “redouble our efforts to create cohesive communities, to help people feel safe, and not just to tolerate but to celebrate diversity”.
Johnson has compared the appearance of Muslims wearing the burqa to letterboxes and bank robbers, while Mr Bennett told ITV: “It’s certainly not a pleasant feeling for many people in Britain, who are British and regard themselves as having British values, to be confronted by these apparitions which seem to be of some kind of pre-medieval culture.”
The Muslim Council of Britain has also expressed its anger over the fundamentalist garments being criticised, declaring: “Words have consequences, and Boris Johnson needs to be held to account”.
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