"I was surrounded by commuters. Nobody intervened. I had been travelling alone and was checking my route home in a passageway, when suddenly I felt someone looming over me. I'd looked up to find a man standing inches from my face, staring down at me. He was motionless, and looking me dead in the eye. I froze - I thought I was about to be mugged."
"That was the last I ever saw of them. I'd become the latest victim of the "tongue-out" TikTok prank, where people stick their tongue out at strangers while pulling a face, and film their reaction - but this time twisted to mock me for my disability. The situation felt familiar. A year ago, I wrote about facing TikTok-inspired disability harassment from school kids who shouted "Timmy" at me outside my local train station."
A passenger in an electric wheelchair was threatened at Finsbury Park station when a man stood inches from his face, stared and pulled a vacant expression while someone filmed from behind. Commuters did not intervene as the group passed through turnstiles and later fled up a stairwell laughing. The episode reflected a TikTok "tongue-out" prank trend used to provoke and record reactions, in this instance weaponised to mock disability. The victim chased the group unsuccessfully and reported the incident as a hate crime. The British Transport Police confirmed that similar incidents had been reported.
Read at www.bbc.com
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