A group of young muslims have been handing out roses as a gesture of peace after an alleged knifeman stabbed a passenger on a train near Forest Hill station.
Five volunteers stood outside the scene of the incident, in which a man reportedly shouted "I want to kill me a Muslim", and gave out the flowers to make people feel safe using the station.
The Dialogue Society and the Mevlana Rumi Mosque had the idea after the attack on Monday afternoon.
23-year-old Gulistan Arslan said: "They got together and said we've got to do something regarding this matter. We gave out roses to spread peace.
"We got a really good response, people were saying it is a shame that this has become necessary, some people were crying.
"It was an Islamaphobic act, the police came to stand with us incase something happened, but we were supported and the police came and stood with us.
"We came to show security and make people feel safe. There was a lady who had been on the train [at the time of the incident] and she walked past us, she said she had been so scared to go to the station and to go to work. She took a bunch of roses."
Passersby took to social media to show encouragement for what the group were doing.
In response to the Forest Hill stabbing a few friends and I will be distributing roses tomorrow at #ForestHillStation 🌷 ...
— Iysha (@iyshaarun) December 13, 2016
Moved by the lovely Muslim women handing out roses at Forest Hill station. A beautiful gesture in the light of Monday's events. #se23 #unity
— Erica (@Erica_P_) December 14, 2016
Given this rose at Forest Hill stn by group asking for end to hate towards local Muslims. So immensely sad people feel they have to do this pic.twitter.com/0bDYI9INFl
— Thomas Bridge (@tombridge89) December 14, 2016
Muslims handing out roses today at Forest Hill station in light of the recent stabbing of an unfortunate commuter. #usnotthem pic.twitter.com/uDStyF7hWL
— Maggie Williams (@MaggieCWilliams) December 14, 2016
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