A man caught in a social media storm fuelled by the likes of Tommy Robinson after video of him being followed by an axe-wielding youth went viral has insisted he did nothing to provoke her.
Footage filmed by Fatos Ali Dumana, 21, shows two girls yelling at him while one of them brandishes a knife and axe in each hand on a footpath in Dundee, Scotland.
The unarmed girl is heard to say ‘don’t f***ing touch my sister, she is f***ing 12’, before the girl with the weapons says ‘wait till I f***ing catch you’.
Mr Dumana is heard to say ‘yeah, yeah, show the knife, show the knife’ as she approaches him.
Police arrested a 12-year-old girl for possession of offensive weapons and issued a warning against ‘misinformation’ about the incident, saying that Dumana had been ‘approached by youths’.
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The clip went viral in social media, with widely-shared posts making unsubstantiated claims that two ‘migrants’ had been following the girls while filming them.
Posts were amplified by prominent figures including Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and Elon Musk.
Musk retweeted some of the unsubstantiated claims on X and posted: ‘What kind of government arrests little girls who try to defend themselves?’
It has now emerged Mr Dumana came to Britain from Bulgaria legally in 2021 and currently lives with his wife and their eight-month-old baby in Dundee.
He says he was with his wife on the way to do shopping when the girl stopped him.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I have seen the social media and it’s blown up.
‘In the video she’s saying, “Don’t touch my sister, she’s only 12″… I never touched her.
‘I didn’t hit her, I swear on my life, I have a baby now. I would never hurt someone.
‘If she’s only 12 why was she messing with me and having weapons?
‘I was going to the shop and she was stopping me going on my way. If I did hurt the girl, why didn’t the police arrest me?
‘I am not an illegal migrant. I have not done anything… I did not hit them, I am a human not an animal.
‘I’ve seen what’s on social media every day, I want people to know what happened.’
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, accused Musk and others of stoking misinformation to ‘to undermine that sense of cohesion within our communities’.
Chief Superintendent of Police Scotland previously said: ‘We are aware of misinformation being shared on social media in relation to an incident where a Bulgarian couple were approached by youths in St Ann Lane, Dundee, on Saturday August 23, 2025.
‘A 12-year-old girl has been charged with being in possession of offensive weapons. She will be referred to the relevant authorities and our inquiries are ongoing.’
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