'I am labelled a terrorist. Do you trust me?' Muslim challenges Canadians to embrace his cause

More than 800,000 people have watched the video showing Canadians' reactions to a blindfolded Muslim man asking for a hug as he stood with his arms outstretched and a sign around his neck.

"I am a Muslim. I am labelled as a terrorist. I trust you. Do you trust me? Give me a hug."

Those were the words at Mustafa Mawla's feet as he stood blindfolded with outstretched arms on a busy Toronto street, while a camera rolled a few feet away.

The Canadian Muslim was taking part in the Blind Trust Project - a social experiment which organisers say aims to "break down barriers and eliminate the fear and ignorance projected towards Muslims and Islam".

The project was the brainchild of 24-year-old Canadian Muslim Assma Galuta, who teamed up with film-makers Time Vision to shoot the video.

Watch: Blind Trust Project

She told the Huffington Post that the reason for making Mawla wear the blindfold was to give complete trust.

"Blindfolded, anyone could harm him or feel very angered," she said. "He's giving people his full trust and he wants to see if people trust him enough to give him a hug."

At the start of the video, Assma Galuta said: "We are conducting a social experiment to address the rise of Islamophobia in North America and Europe." She added: "Our message to the world is that we wish to break down the barriers and eliminate the fear and ignorance that is projected towards Muslims and Islam and to make a difference to eliminate stereotypes and Islamophobia."

To date nearly 800,000 people have watched the video to see what the public's response to the experiment would be.

And to the delight of everyone involved in the project, that response was overwhelmingly positive.

Dozens of passersby of all ages, genders and colours, stopped and embraced Mawla.