A Muslim woman wearing a headscarf was beaten and bitten in Vienna in what her family suspect was an Islamophobic attack.
The 51-year-old woman, identified only as Mrs D, was on her way to work at 6am in the south of the Austrian capital when she was attacked from behind.
The woman said she heard someone running and breathing heavily behind her before she was struck several times on the head.
After she fell over, her assailant continued to beat her.
“He could have attacked me because [I was] in a headscarf, because he didn’t even see my face, he came from behind and attacked me” she said.
She said that when she tried to defend herself by scratching his face, he bit her finger. The man eventually fled after she shouted for help.
An Austrian citizen, Mrs D had lived in the country for 30 years and worked at a post office in the city for 28 years.
Following the attack, she called her husband who alerted the police. Mrs D was taken to the hospital, where she was given stitches on her forehead and treated for a bite wound on her hand.
