After a video of an altercation between the salon’s owner and a customer went viral on social media, an angry mob stormed the shop and forced its closure.
On Monday, footage of a fight between a man and a woman at Peckham Hair and Cosmetics in London’s Peckham neighbourhood went viral online. As she was being led out of the building, the shocking footage appeared to show a man putting his hands around her throat. When she tried to run away, the bigger man pinned her arms behind her back. The female victim can be heard pleading for help, saying over and over, “Call the police. This boy, this man just strangled me. Get off me, get the f*** off me.”
The video maker, Edilenny Douteo, told MyLondon, “I went to the shop to buy some products with my friend. And I saw the lady, they were shouting at each other from the beginning. She was asking for a refund and they told her that is not possible. So she went to the shop and she told them that if you’re not gonna get my refund, I want to get what I’m supposed to get for my money. Then she tried to leave the shop and then the guy pushed her. He pushed her out and then he became aggressive. I saw everything. Then I saw the guy becoming aggressive, and he has strangled her very, very badly. As you can see in the video. He has strangled her and he dragged her into the shop and she tried to take him away from her but she couldn’t.”
She wrote on her profile, “This happened today…”a woman was strangled by one of the workers of this cosmetics shop. The woman went to ask for a refund and the man can be seen on video hanging her became aggressive with her, the woman left the store and he proceeded to drag her into the store and everything became very murky. This is not what we want to see on social media or on our streets, it could happen to any one of us.”
Rye Lane saw a large turnout of protesters after word of the impending demonstration spread on social media and caused the shop to close early. They were caught on camera shouting “shut it down” as outrage over the video mounted. On Saturday, there will be another demonstration in front of the store.
In an interview with MyLondon, the man who has been accused of starting the commotion, Sohail Sindho, explained what happened: “When she told me like, ‘I’m gonna grab the stuff from your shop, and I will see who is gonna stop me,’ she went on one side and I went towards the door, grabbed my phone, and tried to call police. Like, while I was on the phone, I was stopping her from getting out. Then what happened? Like she slapped me on the face. Then I held her from the back of the neck to keep her from hitting me. She grabbed a basket then she hit it back and hit it on my eye.”
“Yesterday it was bruised. Then I got agitated and I held her like I would throw her down. So my video from there, like they were two girls standing on the opposite side over me who started making the video and then they made the whole video but they cropped the video. Then the police came and they took the matter in their hand. Then they held me here and took the woman to the other side. They interviewed the woman, I don’t know what she said, they bring me here and then it will be like they show her the video as well. When the police saw the video, they told me they’re gonna charge me for that.”
A 31-year-old woman was allegedly caught by an employee trying to steal from the store on Monday, according to a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police. The woman was taken into custody on assault charges and released on bail while the investigation continues. They said of the protest: “We are aware of a protest outside the shop and officers are in touch with the organisers. We appeal for people to remain calm while we carry out a full investigation.”
Detective chief superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh, local policing commander for Southwark added: “We know people will be concerned about a video circulating online of an incident in a shop. Our officers attended on Monday and continue to investigate the full circumstances of what has taken place.”
“The investigation will include reviewing the actions of everyone involved. I would like to thank people in our local community for remaining calm and giving us the time to conduct a thorough investigation. If you have information which may help us, I would urge you to get in touch.”
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