Photo of British-Pakistani woman confronting racist group goes viral

Saffiyah Khan was snapped smiling at an English Defence League (EDL) protester in Birmingham and the next thing you know, her photo had gone viral.

Khan, from Birmingham, told the BBC she was trying to defend a woman she saw surrounded by 25 men at a protest held in Centenary Square on Saturday by the white supremacist group.

Khan is half-Pakistani, half-Bosnian and was born in the UK.

She said that she is not part of an organised protest and had decided "to stay out of the way", but changed her mind when another woman shouted "Islamophobe" at EDL members.

"She was 360 surrounded...[by] big-looking EDL lads,” she said.

Khan said she was surprised that the photo had become viral online.

"I don't like seeing people getting ganged up on in my town," she added.

The protestors gathered her after she stepped up, which was snapped by a Press Association photographer.

"He put his finger in my face. It was very aggressive. A police officer was there and the man took his finger out of my face. I wouldn't have responded violently."