A fivefold increase in threats to Muslims
The increase in far-right activity over the last week, which has seen far-right thugs riot across towns and cities across the UK, targeting mosques, attacking police officers and chanting racist slogans, has led to a fivefold increase in threats to Muslims, such as of rape and death, and a threefold increase in hate crime incidents, a national monitoring group said on Sunday.
Tell MAMA, a monitoring group that tracks complaints of anti-Muslim hate crimes, has said that the recent violence has also left Muslim communities feeling terrorised.
The charity says that at least 10 mosques have faced attacks or threats, including Islamic places of worship in Southport, Liverpool and Hartlepool.
The figures compiled by Tell MAMA looked at incidents from 26 July to 2 August and do not include the latest incidents over the weekend.
Tell Mama’s director, Iman Atta, told the Guardian: “This is due to the extreme far right’s misinformation and disinformation after the Southport attacks, which falsely linked Muslims to the incident.
“This led to far-right anti-Muslim hate marches across the UK, and to the far right mobilising and spreading more hate online. It is a direct result of the surge in far-right activity.
“The marches and violence are terrorising communities. People do not want to be visible, do not want to go to the mosque. People can have legitimate concerns about immigration but that does not mean they vandalise mosques or attack or threaten Muslim communities.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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