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'Social experiment' gets fake racist punched

Omar Albach's "social experiment" video to see how Canadians would respond to anti-Muslim bigotry ended with the actor playing racist being punched in the face by a bystander.

By Ben Hooper
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HAMILTON, Ontario, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A Canadian filmmaker's "social experiment" to see how Canadians respond to anti-Muslim bigotry ended with the actor playing a racist being punched by a witness.

Omar Albach, 18, a York University student of Palestinian descent, filmed the scene as an actor dressed in traditional Muslim garb was harassed at Hamilton, Ontario, bus stops by an actor pretending to be a racist.

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The video, designed to "see if people feel safe to be around Muslims or people that look like Muslims" in the wake of last month's shooting death of Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo at the hands of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau in Ottawa, saw bystanders consistently come to the defense of the man in Muslim garb, identified only as Zach.

"We cannot punish everybody for one mad man," one man says in response to the "racist" actor, identified only as Devin.

Toward the end of the video Devin is punched in the face by an enraged bystander and chased off while attempting to explain he was part of a "social experiment." The punch left him with a bloody nose.

"The social experiment had a negative ending to it but, you know what? It's positive because he stood up for him, and I appreciate that. That's good," Devin states with a bloody nose at the end of the video.

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