On a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to London on Friday a man was caught on video being racially abusive towards an older black women, and people are appalled at the airline’s response.
London-based musician David Lawrence captured the footage which shows the white man in a window seat shouting at a black woman who was sitting in an aisle seat.
‘I heard a man's voice behind me, very loud, very aggressive, shout, “Get away from my seat. Move your feet now. I need to pass,”’ Lawrence recalled, according to a CNN report.
The woman’s daughter who was also on the flight later revealed that her mother has arthritis, and that might be why she didn’t move immediately when the man asked to get past her.
Lawrence says the man continued: '"I tell you, I hope somebody sits there because I don't want to sit next to you,” and pointed to the seat between them. Then he called her an “ugly f***ing cow. I'll tell you this, if you don't go to another seat, I'll push you to another seat."'
When the woman responded to him, reportedly in a ‘Jamaican accent’, the assailant replied; ’Don't talk to me in a f***ing foreign language, you stupid, ugly cow.’
What irritated spectators further was, despite the man calling the women an ‘ugly black bastard’, he kept his seat and wasn’t asked to leave the plane.
‘I couldn't believe that I was on an aircraft in the year 2018 with this type of attitude, this type of behavior going unchecked, unpunished,’ Lawrence said, adding that some others on the flight were 'giggling' at the exchange.'
There are now calls for the man captured on the video to be punished, Ryanair has said in a statement that they have reported the matter to Essex Police.