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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Iona Young

The moment East Lothian woman hurled 'racist abuse' at stranger during night out

An East Lothian woman was caught on camera hurling racial abuse at a stranger after a night out in Glasgow.

Carys Serries, 26, and friend Stephan Taylor, 28, were out in the city at around 1am on July 3 when they claim they encountered the 'appalling' incident.

Police Scotland confirmed to Edinburgh Live that they are investigating the claims.

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The pair allegedly told how they were from Musselburgh, East Lothian when asking for directions to a tube station after a night out.

The man in the video then begins to throw punches at Stephan who had offered to give him directions, then the woman, also seen in the video, began hurling racist slurs at his friend Carys.

Carys, a Glasgow local, said she finds it surprising that some people believe 'racism doesn’t exist in Scotland' and told how she had experienced similar incidents a number of times leaving her angry and shaken up.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Carys explained: "Me and two friends Scott and Stephan, were just walking down Bath Street trying to decide whether we should go on a night out or just head home. When the man in the video who was sitting on some steps at the time asked for directions to the Crosshill Hotel.

"The guy had said before asking for directions how they were from Musselburgh and that we think they might have been at the Calvin Harris gig. Stephan stopped to talk to him, and me and Scott continued to walk on. So we watched Stephan talk to this guy, then this lassie came out of Bloc+ and started grabbing onto Stephan, I assumed not aggressively at that point."

All of a sudden the mood changed and the guy reportedly flipped before taking a swing at Stephan. "Then all of a sudden the guy threw a punch at Stephan completely unprovoked, they hadn't had an argument before or anything.

"It just turned in a split second, so Stephan ran away towards us and we went over to help him out. At this point the lassie was still grabbing onto him (Stephan) and the guy came and punched him again" She said.

After the second punch the situation became worse as the blonde woman in the video reportedly began to fire racist slurs at Carys over and over again.

The 26-year-old said" "Then the lassie turned to Stephan and started saying 'why did you punch me?' This is when I stepped in and stood between them, I said 'that's not what happened, it wasn't him that hit you it was the other guy, you’re boyfriend or whatever.

"This is when she turned to me and said 'you’re a f***** m*****' and then called me a f***** m***** and I was like what the hell have you just said to me and she just kept saying different racial slurs over and over again.

"So Scott got us away from this situation, but Stephan was like no we are calling the police and we walked back. This is when I got my phone out to film her.

"Then she was like 'I'm no racist, I would’ve just called her a h***** instead which we told her was a racial slur as well then she continued to call me a m***** and said 'fight me if you think you’re hard.'

"As soon as the guy heard that we were calling the police the guy tried to punch Stephan again. The woman continued to hurl racial abuse at me and argue with the bouncers at Bloc+ before they scrambled off to Sauchiehall Street."

The police eventually turned up and have confirmed they are investigating the incident but after being in a similar incident before the Glasgow local doesn’t have much hope for the outcome.

She said: "The police arrived 15 minutes later and took our statements and said they would track down CCTV, the manager of Bloc+ told us they had it all on CCTV and we have footage of them inside the club too and that they will be in touch with us.

Adding: "The police said their next steps would be to pass it onto to local police and share the images around police officers to try and identify them but I have been attacked before about four years ago, it took two weeks and it just came back with nothing.

"So that's why I posted the video to try and find them and raise awareness. A lot of people think racism doesn’t happen in Scotland but it does, it just rarely gets filmed which is why I posted it.

"Stephan is on the spectrum as well so he really struggles with social situations and he's really upset asking why he had to reply to the guy and that it might not have happened when he was just trying to help."

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Cerys added that it has become a common occurrence for a young black woman living in Scotland and is not acceptable.

She explained: "I'm just angry, this has happened to me so many times before so I am used to it but I am still a bit shaken and upset. No one should ever have to be spoken to like that.

"The fact she used the slurs so many times and so many different ways shows its in her regular vocabulary and isn't the first time she has been racist. So I hope they get caught.

"Some people were saying I shouldn’t be 'filming drunk kids making mistakes on a night out' but again they weren't kids, the woman looked old enough to be my mum and the guy was late twenties early thirties.

"There is no excuse for behaviour like that especially in 2022."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Officers were called to reports of a disturbance at a premises on Bath Street, Glasgow at around 1.15am on Sunday, 3 July, 2022.

“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

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