Spreading fears among British Muslims, London Met police has revealed that Islamophobic attacks have increased by 70% in the past year, with veiled women becoming prime targets of such attacks.
\n“We realized that at a street level Muslim women who were visible, and wore the Hijab or the headscarf, were suffering more targeted abuse,\u201d Fiyaz Mughal, director of Tell MAMA, an organization that monitors Islamophobic attacks, told BBC on Monday, September 7.
\n“We also realized quite early on that women who wear Niqab, the face veil, suffered more aggressive incidents – there was something about the face veil that in a way brought out the worst in the perpetrator.”
\nMugual was commenting on the London Met Police statistics which showed that the number of hate crimes against Muslims in London has risen by almost three quarters in a year.
\nAbout 816 Islamophobic crimes were reported between July 2014 and July 2015, compared with 478 in the same period last year.
\nAnti-Muslim attacks across UK capital ranged from cyber-bullying and assaults to extreme violence, according to police.
\nThe south western London Borough of Merton has witnessed one of London\u2019s highest increase in anti-Muslim crimes, with an increase of 263%.
\nThe highest number of attacks were reported Westminster, with 54 Islamophobic crimes recorded, according to Scotland Yard’s figures.
\nThe soaring anti-Muslim hate crimes have forced some families to move to safer parts in the British capital.
\n\u201cI receive abuse every single day,” Muslim convert and mother-of-two Joni Clark, who moved her family from Penge in south east London, to Whitechapel in east London, complained.
\n“The attacks affect my children deeply and I fear for their safety so I feel I have no choice but to move.”
\nHundreds of anti-Muslim hate offences have been carried out across UK in 2013, with Britain’s Metropolitan police recording an increase of 49% than 2012.
\nThe Metropolitan Police recorded 500 Islamophobic offences from January to mid-November that year, compared with 336 offences in 2012 and 318 in 2011.<\/p>\n
Muslim women<\/strong> Source: OnIslam<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spreading fears among British Muslims, London Met police has revealed that Islamophobic attacks have increased by 70% in the past year, with veiled women becoming prime targets of such attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c102-muslim-minorities"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAccording to Tell MAMA, about 60% of Islamophobia victims were women who in many cases avoided contacting the police because they feared being targeted.
\nMuslim women donning niqab, Islamic face veil, were most vulnerable to \u201caggressive incidents,\u201d the organization said.
\n\u201cThere are a number of reasons why Muslim women are targeted more than men,\u201d commander Mak Chishty, the force’s lead for hate crime, said.
\n“Their physical attire obviously says they are Muslim, they are normally by themselves and with children and the cowardice shown by perpetrators is that it is easier to attack a women with children than it is a man.”
\nThe willingness of victims to report crimes as well awareness of police stuff have contributed in recording crimes and identifying perpetrators, according to the Met.
\nMeanwhile, commander Chishty vowed not to \u201ctolerate hate crime and take positive action to investigate all allegations, support victims and arrest offenders.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cVictims of hate crime must be assured that they will be taken seriously by the police. We have more than 900 specialist officers across London working in our community safety units who are dedicated to investigating hate crime.
\n\u201cNo one should suffer in silence, so please report hate crime to us as soon as possible so we can act.\u201d
\nBritain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.8 million.
\nEarlier in 2015, UK teachers\u2019 unions and anti-racism groups have warned that the rise of anti-Muslim sentiments in schools would foster an atmosphere of \u201cuncertainty and fear\u201d among Muslim students, amid government’s failure to tackle the issue.
\nAccording to Tell MAMA, 112 Islamophobic attacks were reported in less than two weeks after Paris attacks.
\nLast December, the monitoring groups said the number of hate crimes targeting Muslim women has witnessed a 5-10% increase in 2013 and 2014.
\nAbout 58% of victims in 630 racial incidents recorded in 2013 were women too, the group added.<\/p>\n