ON Sunday, January 11, 2014 myself (a Bolton born Muslim), my husband and our 11-year-old son travelled into Manchester to take part in what we understood to be a candlelit vigil in Piccadilly Gardens as a show of solidarity for the recent atrocities in France.

My son and I had spent the afternoon making signs to hold showing our support for the French nation, and condemning the attacks. The details of this vigil were advertised on various Bolton facebook pages including the Bolton News.

However as we approached the 'vigil' we were met by a small, yet hostile, mob of people who shouted abuse including "go back to Pakistan", "it's all your fault" amongst others too vulgar to print.

As we walked away my husband understandably angry and both my son and I quite shaken, a young lady holding a candle and two men who had been stood with the group walked after us. Initially we were quite afraid fearing further abuse but they were extremely apologetic. They explained that they too had attended thinking it was a vigil to show solidarity but were gobsmacked when these people started to hurl abuse. She explained that herself, her boyfriend and his friend were all Jewish and had been horrified at the behaviour of this group and they wanted to ensure we got home safely. They walked with us to the car that was parked nearby.

I didn't get the name of the lady and her friends but I felt they deserved thanks, more than I could ever offer. It would have been very easy for them to stay silent and do nothing but they didn't This Jewish lady and her friends wanted to make sure that myself, a muslim lady, and her family were safe. Whilst the vigil was not at all the event to celebrate 'peace' that we had hoped for, and I am disgusted that the organisers would use the horrific events as a forum to talk about immigration, the actions of this lady are worthy of celebrating in itself. We thank her and her friends for looking after us.

Name and address supplied