The new deputy leader of the Green Party has said he and his family were racially abused and had bottles thrown at them during a day out on the Norfolk coast.
Mothin Ali, picked as joint deputy leader by Green party members on Tuesday, said the incident happened on the beach at Cromer last week.
Mr Ali said he had been visiting the north Norfolk seaside town with his mother, wife and children when a group confronted him.
He told The Guardian: "It was a lovely sunny day. I’d been building sandcastles and catching shrimps in rock pools with my six-year-old.
"Suddenly there were these people throwing beer bottles at us, and shouting: ‘Get out of our country’ and ‘P**i b*****ds’.
"Then one of them decided to pull his trousers down."
Sheffield-born Mr Ali, a Leeds city councillor, said the incident was a repercussion of the ramping up of anti-minority rhetoric by right-wingers in recent months.
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A practising Muslim, Mr Ali made headlines for his victory speech when he became a councillor in 2024.
He said his election success was a "win for the people of Gaza" before shouting "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is the greatest" in Arabic.
And he was also criticised for a social media comment, after Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023, that Palestinians had the right to "fight back".
He subsequently apologised for "any upset" his comments had caused.
But he hit back at what he called Islamophobic criticism of his use of "Allahu Akbar", saying it was not unusual for somebody of his faith do so as an expression of gratitude and celebration.
He earned praise during the Harehills riots in Leeds in July 2024 when he was filmed trying to stop people throwing wheelie bins and a pallet on to a fire.
This week's Green Party election result saw Zack Polanski become the Green Party's new leader, with Mr Ali and Rachel Millward as his deputies.
Mr Polanski defeated Waveney Valley MP Adrian Ramsay, who had been the party's co-leader since 2021 and was standing as a joint ticket with fellow MP Ellie Chowns.
Mr Ali, who works as an accountant, said he expected the Greens to win “lots more” seats in parliament at the next election, but that he would not necessarily be among its MPs.
He said: "If there’s a need, then I’ll stand for it. If there’s someone better than me, I’ll happily step aside and sit in my garden."
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