LONDON: The majority of Muslims in the UK are concerned for their safety after a spate of far-right riots across the country, said a survey by the Muslim Women’s Network.
Only 16 percent said they felt the same before the violence started. About 20 percent said they had faced hostility in the UK before the first riot on July 30 in Southport, which was sparked after a mass stabbing at a youth club claimed the lives of three young girls and multiple others wounded.
Misinformation spread on social media linking the attack to a Muslim or an asylum-seeker. The alleged attacker was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff. Rioting spread to other major cities of Britain with mosques being targeted at various locations.
Lila Tamea, a 26-year-old Muslim student told media that they fear the police aren’t going to protect them. She said it is important that there must be a show of solidarity from not just the Muslim community.
“It was quite a lot of the non-Muslim kind of community who came out that Friday to defend the mosque,” she said.
Anther girts Amina Atiq, 29 told media: “I felt as if it was not fair that we didn’t get a chance as a Muslim family to grieve for the three little girls. Because soon after that, we felt as if we were more suspect to that attack.”
The CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network, Baroness Shaista Gohir said that crime has gone up in the last decade, and the Hate Crime Strategy of the country is out of date. She added: “I want to see hate crime legislation strengthened with the term ‘hostility’ defined.”
She said the charity is setting up a helpline and more people, particularly Muslim women, need to report hate crimes.
