Heated confrontation erupts outside Westfield Zara after perfume sets of security alarm

A heated confrontation between a Zara customer and security guard has unfolded inside a busy Westfield shopping centre.

A tense confrontation has unfolded between a security guard for popular fashion retailer Zara and one of its customers after an item she bought set off the store’s alarm.

In worrying footage captured by the female shopper and later shared to TikTok, she accused the man of “attacking” her, and “snatching” her purchase out of her hands at the Zara outlet inside Westfield Stratford City, in London.

She claimed the item set the alarm off because staff forgot to remove its security tag, and the security guard’s strong reaction was a result of him racially profiling her.

“Zara do better. You failed to take off the security tag and then I was attacked by a security guard who snatched my purchase out of my hand, even though I tried to show him my receipt,” she wrote in text across the footage.

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A tense interaction between a Zara customer and security guard has gone viral online. Picture: TikTok

“He threatened to not give me back my purchase and threatened to call the police! All the staff just stared as this man stepped into my face aggressively.”

A second video showed a second security guard speaking with the woman and telling her to “calm down”.

“I’m not calming down, this guy [the first security guard] was all up in my face, this guy with the stupid mask, tell your guy to calm down,” she told him.

“And he’s holding my property that I paid for. Don’t talk to me, talk to him because I’m actually shaking.”

The initial security guard was heard saying he would give the woman’s perfume back if she deleted the photo he believed she had taken of him.

The woman responded saying she was filming the incident for her own safety.

Eventually a woman understood to be a Zara employee took the item from the security guard’s hands and handed it back to the shopper.

The security guard held her item until a Zara employee stepped in. Picture: TikTok

In a comment to the second video, the woman said she “continued filming because the manager ran off with my item to take off the security tag and I was still getting attacked”.

A member of the public was then shown stopping to ask if the woman was alright.

Zara was tagged by multiple viewers in comments to the shopper’s video, which was uploaded on Tuesday, but has yet to respond.

The retailer has been contacted by news.com.au for comment.

Viewers were outraged by what they saw, and were quick to offer their support.

“It’s the audacity of them telling you to calm down rather than checking their worker, sis you’re better person than me,” one wrote in a comment.

“This is not how security is supposed to behave,” another said.

“He’s angry about being filmed because he knows he’s so far out of line and he’s worried for his job. As he should be,” a third wrote.