Man goes on racist rant against other passengers before ‘joking’ he hits his partner

A woman was ‘racially abused’ on a train from London to Manchester by a ‘drunk’ man raving about how England conquered the world.

Gabrielle Forsyth, 26, was on a train from London to Manchester, when a row broke out with another passenger, after she said she volunteered for a charity helping migrants.

In a video posted on X, she can be seen being shouted at by the man – who yells at her: ‘You’re in England, you are claiming something.

‘You would not be in England if you weren’t claiming something.’

Since posting a video – that now has more than eight million views – she says she has received an ‘insane’ amount of abuse.

Gabrielle was on the way home on Sunday when a man with a can of alcohol became ‘threatening’, she said.

The abuse started when she told a fellow passenger in a friendly conversation she worked for a charity helping immigrants.

After overhearing this, the man then hurled abuse towards her, she claims.

The man is then seen on video telling her: ‘You’re in England, you are claiming something. You would not be in England if you weren’t claiming something.

‘English people conquered the world and gave it back to you. We conquered India, we didn’t want it, we gave it back to you.’

The United Kingdom conquered the Indian sub-continent from the 1750s.

Research by economic historian Robert C Allen has argued 100 million people were killed by British colonialism in the country.

A widely popular independence movement in the country saw India gain sovereignty in 1947.

Towards the end of the video the man tells Gabrielle, ‘I am not gonna hit you, I have a girl there that lives to get hit. She ain’t getting hit right now.’

This remark prompted fury from his partner, who called him a ‘d***head’.

Gabrielle then posted the video on X, which soon racked up over 8 million views.

She said: ‘He heard the word “immigrant” and his bodily response was that of anger and aggression. It was very jarring.

‘I feel very strongly what he said was wrong.’ It was an insane situation. I videoed myself for protection. We were all visibly non-white.’

She has received a wraft of negative comments from people on X.

‘The amount of abuse I have received from this one video is insane. I have been called slurs I did not even know existed.

‘Now it is much easier to be a troll on X. Violent rhetoric and hate speech is able to proliferate on this app.

‘This is a part of my identity I am proud to have. I care very much about the proliferation of rights for people of colour in this country and I do think we are backsliding.

She has reported the incident to the British Transport Police.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.