Call for calm after Dagenham chicken shop attacked amid video uproar

Councillors joined the owner of Dixy Original in Dagenham Archant

A takeaway owner is fearing for his family and business after a “stupid misunderstanding” led to attacks on his shop, racist abuse and threats of arson.

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A note written by Mr Ali and placed on the front of his shop A note written by Mr Ali and placed on the front of his shop

Mohammad Ali said his Dixy Original chicken store in Dagenham has been burgled, vandalised, raided by schoolchildren and boycotted after a video appearing to show an elderly and vulnerable man being teased by staff in the restaurant was posted on social media.

Now the new mayor of Barking and Dagenham Eileen Keller and River ward councillor Peter Chand have joined forces with Mr Ali in an attempt to ease community tension and explain what happened at the shop on Wednesday last week.

“I know the man from the video – he comes to my shop every day and I give him free meals,” Mr Ali said. “I would never see him hurt.”

Mr Ali, 53, said the employee who appeared to tease the elderly man has been sacked and “will never come back to Dagenham again”.

Social media ‘rumour mill’ partly at fault Mayor of Barking and Dagenham and River ward councillor Eileen Keller blasted the behaviour of schoolchildren and the irresponsibility of social media. Cllr Keller, who is a governor at Dagenham Park school, said pupils from the secondary involved in attacking Dixy Original have been “seriously reprimanded”. “I have been assured the children have been dealt with,” she said. “For some of them the video has been an excuse to cause damage, but a lot of them seem to have genuinely thought they were trying to protect the old gentleman from bullying. “It’s all just been a stupid misunderstanding.” The mayor, who began the role on Friday last week, blamed the “rumour mill” of social media for inflaming the incident. She said: “The whole thing has just got out of hand. But nobody knows what the elderly man is like – they have just made an assumption.” Cllr Keller also dismissed that the incident concerned race. “People have used what’s happened to bring race into it,” she said. “There was no underlying racial tension – people have just stirred it up.”

“It was just a joke but you cannot act like that,” he said.

Cllr Chand, who visited the Broad Street store on Monday, said he wanted everyone to calm down and stressed the teasing was not racially motivated.

“People are saying, ‘He’s a little old white man and he’s been bullied by Asians’ – but race has nothing to do with it,” he said.

“Now he’s being told to go home and getting racist abuse, but people have the wrong idea.

A still from the video which appears to show the elderly man being teased by takeaway employees Video: Nathan Allen A still from the video which appears to show the elderly man being teased by takeaway employees Video: Nathan Allen

“I don’t want us to go back to the bad old days of racism in the ’70s.”

Cllr Chand lives close to the elderly man – who he said has “severe learning disabilities” – and visits him regularly to provide support.

He said the man has “no clue what’s going on”.

“He hasn’t seen the video – I doubt he knows what Facebook is,” he said. “He knows the staff at the shop and they were just messing about, but a rogue worker has thought it was a bit of fun and it’s got out of hand – and that’s not on.”

Four days of chaos Following the publication of the video on Thursday afternoon, Mr Ali said he was burgled on the Thursday night and had to hide behind his security door while schoolchildren trashed his shop on Friday and squirted ketchup over his head, “burning” his eyes. On Friday night racist graffiti was sprayed on the shop’s shutter, while police advised him to close on Saturday. On Sunday, his front window was smashed, and since Thursday he has had “nonstop” abuse over the phone.

Mr Ali, meanwhile, said he, his wife and his two sons are scared for their safety and the business.

“I’ve already lost £2,000,” he said. “A man had agreed to buy my shop but now he’s having second thoughts.

“I’ve had no delivery requests, and Just Eat has taken me off their website – I will have to borrow money to get by.

“When I bought the shop 15 months ago it was a mess – now my reward for building it up is this. I’m losing my livelihood.”

The councillors have called for calm after Mr Ali experienced racist abuse and vandalism The councillors have called for calm after Mr Ali experienced racist abuse and vandalism

Threats to firebomb the shop terrify him – not least because a woman rents the flat upstairs with her children – but he refuses to leave.

“This is my home,” Ali, who was born in Pakistan, said. “I’ve been in England since I was 16 – I’m British. I don’t have anywhere else to go so I’ll keep fighting to stay.”

Police are trying to trace the former Dixy Original employee so the matter can be “dealt with”. Officers are also appealing for any information about the original incident. If you can help, call 101.

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