Two women, believed to be mother and daughter, are being sought after a racist attack on a teenage girl in a KFC restaurant in north-east London.
The two women – one aged in her 50s, the other in her 20s – allegedly abused a 15-year-old girl of Asian appearance, before throwing her to the floor by her hair and kicking her, leaving her with a broken arm.
A hot drink was thrown in the victim’s face as she stood up during the attack at the fast-food restaurant in Waltham Forest in November, the Metropolitan police said.
Police have released CCTV images of the suspects.
DC Rosie Doyle said: “This was an unprovoked and vicious attack which has left the victim very shaken and with a serious injury. If you recognise the women in these pictures, we would urge you to get in touch.
“We do not tolerate hate crime of any form and encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and report such incidents to the police.”
The attack allegedly started when the suspects threw food at the victim as she ate a meal with friends at around 8.30pm on 6 November.
Home Office figures released in October showed that 80,393 offences were recorded by the police in 2016-17 in which one or more hate crime strands were deemed to be a motivating factor – up 29% on the previous year. A total of 78% (62,685) were race hate crimes.
The Home Office said the increase was thought to reflect a rise in hate crime around the time of the EU referendum and ongoing improvements in crime recording by police.
A further increase in police-recorded hate crime followed the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack in London on 22 March last year.
