Attack victim resorts to martial arts

[Melanie]

http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0225croydon/tm_objectid=16248757&method=full&siteid=53340&headline=attack-victim-resorts-to-martial-arts-name_page.html

A MUSLIM man attacked by a racist gang who accused him of being a suicide bomber has described how he had to use martial arts skills to stop them getting to his pregnant wife.

Abdullah Odell, 27, was targeted in an unprovoked attack in Sutton High Street. Yobs involved in the attack also came dangerously close to hitting Abdullah's wife Faye, four months pregnant at the time.

The attack took place outside the Cost Cutter newsagent on Sutton High Street, where Abdullah's car was parked while he went into the shop. Inside he was approached by two men, one of whom spoke to him.

He said: "One of the men asked me how to become a Muslim. I didn't know if he was drunk or not, but I try to answer these things calmly, so I just gave him some basic facts."

When Abdullah went outside the shop towards where wife Faye was waiting in the car, the men came over again but this time there was three of them.

He said: "The one who had spoken to me who had a skinhead was holding out his hand and even smiled through the car window at Faye. "But when I went to shake his hand he punched me and called me a suicide bomber, while his friend tried to bottle me.

"The attack went on for about 10 minutes, with them punching and kicking me and trying to use broken bottles. I managed to escape with just a cut over one eye though, because I have martial arts training so I could block a lot of it. "I think I was lucky to not have been more seriously hurt, because I believe God was on my side, but also because of my martial arts."

At one point Faye got out of the car to try to intervene, with Abdullah having to shield his pregnant wife to stop her being attacked.

She was heckled by a group of about eight people, thought to be part of the attackers' group, who were standing nearby. He said: "Because of the adrenaline I wasn't that scared at the time, but looking back it was a dangerous situation. I was trying to block their punches, but I had to get Faye out the way so they couldn't harm her or the baby.

"I feel angry about what happened. But I'd like to sit down with the attackers and ask them why they felt the need to do this.

"I think they thought of it as a racist attack, but they were thrown when they saw that despite my wife being a Muslim and dressed in hijab, she is white with blue eyes. So it didn't quite fit for them."

Abdullah devotes much of his time to educating the public about Islam and putting right some of the myths surrounding the religion. For the past eight months, he has been running a stall in Sutton High Street with friends every Saturday where they answer questions about their faith.

He said: "The reaction of most people has been really good. They're just interested to know more about the religion and learn that suicide bombing is not condoned by Muslims. "Because of the London bombings, some people have been a bit confrontational and two men off our stall were hit from behind once.

"But when something like this happens it just makes you stronger and more resolute to be who you are."

Abdullah's attackers have still not been caught. If you have any information about the attack on September 23 contact Sutton CID on 020 8649 0774.

Thank heavens the mother and baby were not attacked and the father was not more seriously hurt. Tolerance is at an all time low in many major towns and cities since the bombings in London, but we cannot tarnish a whole culture for the misguided belief that murdering others is something wonderful to do. I have several Muslim friends and would stand side by side with them if anyone went to hurt them.

[Infrazael]

God bless this guy.

[slipthejab]

What a drag for this guy.
I find the article really poor though. At least in it's usefulness to MAP. He merely mentions martial arts twice and that's about it. He never goes into detail and the person writing never bothers to ask. It makes no mention of what he did besides blocking that allowed him to survive. Maybe he used Taekwon Do? :D It's really much more of an article about yob's and their tactics, or what a drag it must be to be South Asian and live in London. It hasn't much of anything about MA's. It's really neither here nor there.

[Rossi]

I hate racist people and even more so racist attacks! Glad he defended himself, if the guy didn't do martial arts who knows what the outcome would have been!

[tekkengod]

racism sucks. but how does this really have anything to do with MA? he just got lucky and blocked. nothing more.

[Kwajman]

Racism plain and simple.

[CFT]

racism sucks. but how does this really have anything to do with MA? he just got lucky and blocked. nothing more.Well, he was very lucky for 10 whole minutes! That's called "making your own luck" wouldn't you say?

[Johnno]

There are some sick scum in this world. Thankfully they are in the minority, but that's not much of a comfort when a bunch of them atack you with broken bottles! Thankfully the guy wasn't too badly hurt and his wife and unborn child were unharmed.

It's a pity the article doesn't say what MA he does, so that we could have an idiotic debate over whether it's now proven to be 'the ultimate martial art in a str33t fight'. ;)

[Yohan]

First off, it doesn't mention his race, so how do you know it's racism?

It's more than racism, it's religious "discrimination." It was a hate crime performed by people who are so woefully ignorant about Islam as to hate everyone associated with it. It was a brutal assault performed by people who are so weak and pansy-fied that they can't fight what they hate fairly. Even worse, these people shed a poorer light on humanity than even the lady who put her cat in the washing machine. They tried to hit a PREGNANT LADY?!?!?!?!?!?!?! How weak can you get? What sloppy pig farmer raised these morons?

It astounds me how stupid, weak and poorly those guys and their ilk are. I can't even fathom how one can live 20, 30, 50 years on this earth and end up as blindly dumb as they are.

These people make me ashamed to be a human being. I hope they are caught and made an example of as quickly as possible. This kind of brutality is insufferable.

What's a yob?

[CosmicFish]

What's a yob?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yob

[inthespirit]

What I really don’t get is what frame of mind a group must be in order to attack and outnumber a single individual. I feel that if I participated in such an attack I would feel like a coward. You certainly don’t prove anything to yourself when you attack a weak target, so what’s the catch, are these people so vile and dishonourable that they take pleasure in something like this. There is a phenomena called ‘mob mentality’, but I don’t really think it applies to such a situation, or maybe it does I don’t know, either way its still no excuse for acting like an tyrant. If we did not have laws, and I knew of such despicable individuals I think I would have to get rid of them. I don’t want to have to worry abut my family and friends getting in to a situation with such people.

yob:
n : a cruel and brutal fellow [syn: bully, tough, hooligan,
ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yobo, yobbo]

[inthespirit]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yob

You beat me to it.. the definitions on your site are really funny though.. I particularly like this one:

Sid Vicious was a yob...but, you know, people change...they get older, wiser...they mature...Sid's no longer a yob; he's dead.

EDIT: I just checked up Chav on that site, and got this:

Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, fag in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says “Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling” when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out.
My mate has become a chav what can i do? answer is shoot him before it is too late.

ROFLMAO :D

[Jesh]

Good for him. Training can save your behind, if done properly.

[CosmicFish]

EDIT: I just checked up Chav on that site, and got this:

Picture this a young lad about 12 years of age and 4 ½ feet high baseball cap at ninety degrees in a imitation addidas tracksuit, with trouser legs tucked into his socks (of course, is definitely the height of fashion). This lad is strutting around, fag in one hand jewellery al over the over, outside McDonalds acting as if he is 8 foot tall and built like a rugby player, when some poor unsuspecting adult (about 17/18) walks round the corner wanting to go to mcdonalds for his dinner glances at the young lad, the young lad jumps up in complete disgust and says “Whats your problem? Wanna make sommin of it? Bling Bling” when the adult starts to walk towards the young lad, the young lad pisses himself and runs off to either his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend or his brother in the army crying his eyes out.
My mate has become a chav what can i do? answer is shoot him before it is too late.

ROFLMAO :D
LOL!!! That site frequently has me in stitches. Not just because it's so un-PC, but more because the definitions are so near the mark. :)

[Wynnston]

Glad the guy and his wife escaped without serious injury. I also think that his stall idea is brave and addresses the problem in this country (since before September 2001) of mistrust and misunderstanding between two groups of people who live close together but hardly ever interact except through economic transactions, racist abuse and violence.

Also, for that guy to survive against 3 blokes, 1 or 2 with broken bottles, for ten minutes with just blocks means he is either an exceptional Martial Artist or those blokes were utterly inept. Hope it's the latter as there is less chance of them hurting someone else and more chance of them bottling themselves and getting on the Darwin Awards website.

[Dizzyj]

What I really don’t get is what frame of mind a group must be in order to attack and outnumber a single individual.

I'm afraid it can happen to the best of us. Mob psycology is very unplesant. A test was done where a group of normal men were put into a POW situation, with some as the guards and some as the prisoners. The actions of the guards escalated to such a shocking extent that the experiment had to be shut down. It takes great will power to resist becoming part of the mob.

[Oversoul]

A test was done where a group of normal men were put into a POW situation, with some as the guards and some as the prisoners. The actions of the guards escalated to such a shocking extent that the experiment had to be shut down.

That sounds like the Stanford Prison Experiment: http://www.prisonexp.org/

[Fighter4Higher]

THIS MAN PUT IT DOWN, I would hope to react as well in a bad situation like that.. Wife, yourself to worry about. Nice Nice...

[Johnno]

THIS MAN PUT IT DOWN, I would hope to react as well in a bad situation like that.. Wife, yourself to worry about. Nice Nice...Eh? What did he put down? :confused:

[Fighter4Higher]

"it"

[Johnno]

"it""It" being what exactly?

[CosmicFish]

"it"
http://uk.geocities.com/cosmicfishy/clippypoint.jpg

[hux]

you know....it.

:)

Obviously the guy trains in TKD. ITF, that is.

:Angel:

[Johnno]

you know....it.

:)

Obviously the guy trains in TKD. ITF, that is.

:Angel:Oh, right... it.

Of course!

[Fighter4Higher]

LOL, I hate that paper clip... It would be the skills this man displayed or "put down"

[Johnno]

LOL, I hate that paper clip... It would be the skills this man displayed or "put down"So when you said that he "put it down" you meant that he 'displayed great skill'? Am I correct?

[hux]

ya, that's exactly what it means. Also known as a "throw down":

man, that guy threw DOWN!

Ya, it turned into a throw down!

:D

[Johnno]

ya, that's exactly what it means. Also known as a "throw down":

man, that guy threw DOWN!

Ya, it turned into a throw down!

:DOK, I understand it now. Put (or threw) down = displayed great skill.

So how would you say that you put (or threw) something down?

[hux]

me personally? I dunno, haven't used that phrase in a while. :D

[John Hannon]

I did an excercise with some Prison Officers who were to be the hostage takers and I was one of the hostages. One PO was out of control by excercise end and he was more scary than the police with all their weapons etc.
I do believe in a realistic excercise but this bloke started to live the role he was playing.

[John Hannon]

I believe that the first rule of self defence is to act first when threatened. Often this will take the attacker by suprise and give YOU the breathing space you need. The attacker is NOT expecting his 'victim' to do anything that is why you have been chosen. The attacker does not pick someone who can or will fight back.

[MissBehavin]

I believe that the first rule of self defence is to act first when threatened. Often this will take the attacker by suprise and give YOU the breathing space you need. The attacker is NOT expecting his 'victim' to do anything that is why you have been chosen. The attacker does not pick someone who can or will fight back. Maybe you could look like the attacker rather than trying to defend your self?Im not sure if the law would be on your side? :confused:

[Wynnston]

I did an excercise with some Prison Officers who were to be the hostage takers and I was one of the hostages. One PO was out of control by excercise end and he was more scary than the police with all their weapons etc.
I do believe in a realistic excercise but this bloke started to live the role he was playing.

Sounds interesting. An out of control PO would be good practice should you ever meet someone out of control who you can't avoid and have to deal with physically somehow. The fear factor should also be pretty useful as you also have to learn how to do the physical stuff whilst your heart rate doubles and adrenaline rushes your system.