Muslim ice cream man gives free cones to cops after UK riots

LONDON – A British Muslim social media star who travels around the country in his ice cream van has thanked police officers trying to control racist and anti-immigration riots by handing out free cones.

Mr Tee, who is known as king of desserts, posted a TikTok video taken in the English city of Sunderland that has amassed more than 2.6 million views.

In the video, which plays with the theme tune of the 1980s hit TV show The A-Team blaring, he offers ice cream to a police van full of officers.

“We just thought we’d show them a little bit of love,” said Mr Tee, whose real name is Ashiq.

The two-minute clip – in which a policeman asks for a special birthday ice cream for a colleague – struck a chord with the British public, the vast majority of whom think the recent riots are unjustified, according to a recent YouGov poll.

“This is brilliant – remember under the uniforms there is a dad, husband, uncle, brother, human,” said commenter sayithowitis1970.

In the last week,

riots have erupted

at anti-immigration protests in towns and cities across Britain, with attacks by far-right groups on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.

Mr Tee said most of the praise for his video came from non-Muslims who value their community.

“It’s just a very small minority that are unfortunately (not) feeling in this way,” he said.

Based in the northern Welsh town of Wrexham, he said he would take a week off to let tensions around the country die down.

“Some people are scared to leave the house, ladies especially, they don’t want to be seen walking about with their hijabs,” he said. 

But he pointed to the reaction to his video as a reason for hope.

“It just showed the genuine true colours of Great Britain and the people that live here, and obviously the welcoming side of the people here.” REUTERS