السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته احسن الله اليكم Shiekh, sometimes when in public I want to do dua and and would like to raise my hands. However, I live in the west and this would make a lot of the people stare and it bothers me. If I leave raising of the hands in public for this reason, is it riyya?

Ustadh AbdulAziz al-Haqqan

No, it is not riya to leave raising the hands to avoid people staring, since raising them is a sunnah and your dua is fine without it.