A political campaigner has been the victim of an “Islamophobic hate crime” for wearing a Labour party sticker on her hijab, according to Stella Creasy.
The Labour candidate for Walthamstow condemned the “attack” in a video posted online to her 20,000 followers.
READ: General Election 2017 live blog
Ms Creasy said she had just returned from campaigning in Ilford North when she heard a member of her Labour team was attacked at a polling station in Walthamstow.
The 40-year-old politician said she made the video to let the suspect know the incident was reported to the police.
She said: “That kind of attack has no place in British democracy, has no sense of the values behind our democracy.
“It is completely unacceptable and I will push for the strongest penalties to anyone trying to stop other people exercising their democratic right or speaking to other people in those ways in Walthamstow.
“That is not what Walthamstow is about. Whoever wins this election, I hope they will agree that Walthamstow has always got to be a place of welcome."
READ: General Election 2017 live blog
Commenting on the attack, anti-FGM campaigner, Hibo Wardere, said Islamophobia is a “poison” which needs to be “stamped out”.
She said: “She was just exercising her democratic right, she was telling people what she believes in and it shouldn’t be happening.
“This our freedom and our right to make a choice, and we need to defend that now more than ever.
“We have to defend religion. These terror attacks are not religion, this is just bloodthirsty criminals playing out their sick ideology.”
The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.
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