Mother feared for life as teenage girl beat her in Lee cafe ‘mini-riot’

'Mini-riot': The scene of the attack in Lee
Matt Watts19 January 2017
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A mother today said she feared for her life as she was beaten by a teenage girl ahead of a “mini riot” that left three police officers injured.

Cafe owner Leyla Garip, 38, said she was attacked as she asked the girl to leave a table outside before up to 50 youths descended on the cafe, smashing doors and kicking the shutters.

The group of people as young as 14 were then involved in a stand-off with police, with one officer suffering a broken wrist and another a dislocated shoulder as they restored order.

Mrs Garip, a mother of three, said: “It was really terrifying. She just kept on hitting me. I was worried for my life. My son saved me.”

Smashed glass: the aftermath of the riot

She said she had asked the girl, aged about 14, to move from the table outside Centre Cafe Shop in Lee, south-east London, just after noon on Friday as she closed up early to visit her husband Aziz Garip, 46, who was in hospital being treated for kidney stones.

The girl refused to move, she said, and then repeatedly hit Mrs Garip, leaving her with a badly swollen cheek that needed hospital treatment. She called for her son, 16, who rushed out to her aid and was also beaten to the ground, hurting his shoulder.

Mrs Garip, originally from Turkey, has run the cafe with her husband for the past 13 years. She has struggled to sleep since the attack and has been frightened to return to work

One witness said: “It was pandemonium. There were people kicking the shutters and the door and young people running everywhere and fighting each other. At the start there were around six officers and they were grossly overpowered by the kids before back-up arrived.”

He said: “I haven’t seen anything like it since the riots. It was absolutely disgraceful. The young people were out of control.”

He said the “mini-riot” was over within five to 10 minutes when most of the young people fled when more officers arrived.

Three boys aged, 14,15 and 16 and a 14-year-old girl were arrested on suspicion of affray and criminal damage to the cafe, in Burnt Ash Road. Another girl was arrested for the same offences and on suspicion of GBH. They have all been bailed until mid-March.

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