Man Charged with Assault After Allegedly Slapping and Threatening Muslim Teen on Transit

A man in Vancouver was charged with assault and threatening to cause death or bodily harm after he allegedly slapped a Muslim teenager in the face, pulled at her hijab, and repeatedly threatened to kill her while riding public transit Monday night.

Pierre Belzan, 46, was arrested following a violent attack that took place December 4 on the Canada Line train, according to the city’s transit police. Though there were around 20 passengers on board at the time, the victim said no one intervened until Belzan slapped her.

Speaking to VICE, 18-year-old Noor Fadel said she was heading home on the train after work Monday night at around 10 PM when Belzan came up to where she was sitting and began swearing at her in Arabic and a language she didn’t understand.

“He was saying ‘go back to your country, you slut, you whore. I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill all Muslim people,’” Fadel said. She said he began raising his hand and that she stood up in shock.

“That was when he came closer. In Arabic he said ‘choke on it.’ He tried to grab my head and tried to force me onto his crotch.” She said Belzan had tried to grab her by her hijab.

“I was thinking to myself ‘I need to film this guy but he’s going to hurt me,’” she said.

At that point, she said Belzan slapped her across the face.

That’s when she said a bystander named Jake Taylor yelled at Belzan and stood in front of her, blocking Belzan from accessing her. Belzan got off at the next station, she said, and she and Taylor proceeded to the next stop and reported the incident to transit police.

According to transit police, Fadel was “extremely traumatized and had trouble breathing” when they first came into contact with her. But she’d been able to take photos of Belzan and that same night he was arrested at a convenience store near Vancouver International Airport.

Transit police have coordinated with BC Hate Crimes Unit on the investigation. They have also recommended Belzan be charged with sexual assault.

Fadel, who was born and raised in Vancouver, told VICE she’s experienced verbal assaults “many, many times” but she’s never before been physically attacked.

While she said it was somewhat “disheartening” that prior to Taylor’s intervention, no other bystanders intervened, she also empathized with other passengers.

“It’s not just something easy for someone to just get up and risk their life for someone they’ve never seen.”

She said she now feels “very anxious” while riding public transit, but she has received thousands of responses from other victims of hate crimes since the attack went public. The support has encouraged her to speak out.

“This wasn’t just an attack on an 18-year-old Muslim, this is an attack on humanity,” she said.

Last week, Statistics Canada released data that showed police-reported hate crimes went up in 2016—from 1,362 to 1409. The numbers showed hate crimes went up against Arabs, South Asians, West Asians, Jews and LGBTQ people, while the reported attacks against Muslims went down.

However, police-reported hate crimes against Muslims jumped 253 percent between 2012, when there were 45 incidents and 2015, when there were 159 incidents. In 2016, there were 139 police-reported hate crimes against Muslims.

Experts told VICE News it is possible that attacks on South Asian and Arab people last year were meant to target Muslims.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.