![]() One officer inspects the bar before gathering the dolls and placing them into a clear evidence bag. ![]() CCTV shows six officers walk into the bar and question Benice at a table. On Tuesday (4/4) Essex Police raided the pub and confiscated the dolls saying they were investigating a "hate crime". She and husband Chris, 64, who is currently abroad, have displayed their collection of 15 dolls after receiving them as gifts from customers over the years. Benice Ryley, 61, was quizzed by six officers after police received an anonymous complaint about The White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex. This is the bizarre moment police stormed a couple's pub and seized their golliwog dolls - saying the toys were a suspected "hate crime". "After we break our fast, we spend the evening drinking it outside with friends." "Coffee is on every iftar table," he said, referring to the fast-breaking meal at dusk. Some cafes even serve a localised version of affogato, with the Italian dessert stripped of its traditional liqueur.Īli Khawaja, a 24-year-old in a leather jacket, said he has been a coffee addict since adolescence, but Ramadan was an opportunity to appreciate the drink more. The oil-rich country has seen over a decade of war, since the 2011 revolution that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi, and its capital bears the scars of several major battles that raged there as recently as 2020.īut Tripoli's cafes still do a brisk trade, with punters sitting at street-side tables, discussing politics and daily life while sipping a "tazza" of coffee, an espresso-sized cup that costs less than a euro. "Even when war is raging, Libyans have to have their coffee," he added. "The older generation still loves its Arabic coffee, but young people mostly order espresso or macchiato," he said as his waiters served the thick black liquid into paper cups. That said, old habits die hard, according to Zourgani. Libyans have been drinking coffee since at least the 15th century, as beans from Yemen made their way along North African trade routes and into Europe.īut when Italy occupied formerly Ottoman-ruled Libya in 1911, the country's coffee culture adopted a new twist, with punchy espressos taking the place of cardamom-tinted Arabic coffee. Immediately after people break their daily fast, he predicted, they will rush "to drink coffee as if it were water". "The coffee Libyans usually drink over 16 hours, during Ramadan they drink over two hours, from as soon as the sun goes down," said the 31-year-old with a well-groomed beard. ![]() Mohamed Zourgani, who runs an Old City cafe which his grandfather bought in the 1950s, said he does not expect business to slow due to the fast, just to become concentrated in the evenings. While coffee is an integral part of daily life across North Africa and the Middle East, Hamza boasted that Libya stands out from its neighbours where "you don't find coffee of this quality made in this way with such machines".Īs Ramadan approaches, the pavements outside the capital's cafes heave with mostly male crowds enjoying their last daytime beverages before the fasting begins. ![]() Tripoli's centre is dotted with a myriad of cafes, from tiny kiosks to large halls, all equipped with sophisticated Italian espresso machines. "There's nothing that we drink more than coffee," the 63-year-old said as he donned a hat and down jacket to step away from his luggage store to order a late afternoon brew.
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