A Liberal Democrat councillor has said she was racially abused and harassed as she travelled on the tube by two men who demanded to know where she was from before one of them briefly manhandled her.

Julia Ogiehor, from east London, who represents Muswell Hill on Haringey council described how two men sat down opposite her and began interrogating her about her heritage as she travelled home on Friday night.

She said they refused to accept she had lived in the capital her entire life before guessing “where in Africa they thought I was from”.

“They said you’re clearly not from here, where are your family from?” Ogiehor told the Guardian. “I said it’s none of your business.”

According to Ogiehor, the two white men said they were from Liverpool after a fellow commuter intervened and sat next to her, before the men accused her of being “ashamed” of where she was from.

“One of them called me uneducated, and looked like I didn’t go to university,” Ogiehor said. “I had my hands up saying I do not want to speak to you any more, then one of the guys tried to pull my hands down and demanded I get out of his sight.

“I recoiled and said please do not touch me, as he kept saying I had no common sense and that I was uneducated at the top of his voice. I was the only black person in the carriage and he seemed to expect everyone would be on their side. They seemed to be a little taken aback when that was not the case.”

She added: “They had such a sense of entitlement and sounded offended that I refused to go into my heritage and did indeed come from London.”

Ogiehor said she has had enough of being asked this question, which happens quite often. “I’m as British as you are,” she told the men. “You do not have the right to ask me these questions.”

She claimed she had been attacked previously while travelling on the underground and called on people to “speak up” if they ever witnessed people being harassed.

“The fact I was helped is what gave me the courage to defend myself,” she said. “Hate crime is under-reported, so please speak up. They are the minority, and we need to stand up to bigotry.”

At the time of writing, Ogiehor said the police were en route to her house to take a detailed statement. British Transport Police have been contacted for comment.