Huge rise in Islamophobic hate crime following Borough Market stabbing, police figures show
Number of incidents is also higher than following the Paris attacks and the murder of Lee Rigby.
Islamophobic hate crimes jumped fivefold in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack, new figures show.
The data, collated by the Metropolitan Police, reveals there was a 40 per cent increase in racist incidents on 6 June compared with an average day this year.
Provisional figures show the number of racist incidents recorded on Tuesday was 54, compared with a daily average of 38 this year.
Looking only at incidents where the Islam was listed as a trigger, the statistics show a fivefold increase - its highest daily level in 2017.
Twenty such crimes were handled by police on Tuesday, compared with a daily average for 2017 of 3.5.
The number of reported Islamophobic hate crimes was also higher than in the days following the Paris attacks in November 2015 and the murder of Lee Rigby in May 2013.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has encouraged members of the public to report hate crimes to the police, saying the city was adopting a “zero-tolerance approach”.
He said: “One of the greatest things about London is our defiant unity in the face of adversity - and that will not change in the aftermath of this horrific attack.”Just as the police will do everything possible to root out extremism from our city, so we will take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime.
"If you witness a hate crime please report it to the police. If you commit a hate crime, you face arrest.”
The spike in reported hate crimes comes just three days after terrorists murdered eight people on London Bridge and outside restaurants and bars near Borough Market.
Mr Khan added: “I’m calling on all Londoners to pull together, and send a clear message around the world that our city will never be divided by these hideous individuals who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life.”London will never be cowed or divided by terrorism."
After the suicide bombing in Manchester on 22 May, Muslim leaders warned of a rise in hate crimes in the city.
There was also a spike following the Westminster incident in March, when five people were killed in a car and knife attack.
Craig Mackey, acting Commissioner of the Met, said at the time he had seen a “slight uplift” in the number of anti-Muslim attacks the day after Khalid Masood went on a killing spree.
Commenting on the upsurge, Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Islamophobic helpline Tell Mama, said there was a “measurable and large spike” after the latest attack in London.
“We know from all of the terrorist attacks since 2011 that anti-Muslim hatred spikes sharply in our country after them,” he told The Independent.
“Westminster was the only terrorist attack that did not produce a large spike of anti-Muslim hate incidents.
“We are at the coalface of supporting victims of anti-Muslim hatred and in ensuring that hate crimes are tackled and we know that the Manchester murders produced one of the largest spikes and number of cases that we have seen in 7 days after a terrorist attack.
“Within days of the spike dropping, we have another significant, measurable and large spike after the London Bridge murders.
“Terrorists are trying to divide our communities and society. People who target innocent Muslims who have nothing to do with extremism or terrorism are playing into the hands of Islamist extremist terrorists. This is what they want – divided societies and communities.”
Tom Batchelor
@_tombatchelor
* The Independent Online; Wednesday 7 June 2017 16:05 BST:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/london-bridge-attack-latest-rise-islamophobic-hate-crimes-borough-market-stabbing-terror-police-a7777451.html
London attack: 500 imams condemn terrorists and refuse to perform funeral prayer for ’vile murderers’
Group of Muslim leaders coming together to outline renewed efforts to combat extremism.
At least 500 imams and religious leaders have now refused to perform funeral prayers for the London Bridge attackers in condemnation of the “vile murderers”.
Support for the move is growing as a group of British Muslims prepare to gather near the site of the atrocity to outline renewed efforts against extremism.
The British Muslim Forum (BMF) said members would set out how communities and mosques will “challenge, robustly and precisely, the perverted interpretation of Islam that is put forward by Isis and other extremist groups”, while calling on people to report anyone expressing sympathy to authorities.
Qari Asim, spokesperson for the BMF and imam of the Leeds Makkah mosque, said: the group aimed to broadcast the message that violent extremism was “forbidden” by Islam.
“If you follow this path you are stepping away from Islam to a dark and godless place,” he added.
“Your views are not welcome in our mosques or in our communities. This is not a path to heaven.”
Shaykh Shahid Raza, a trustee of the BMF said that although the vast majority of British Muslims reject extremism, there are “individuals and organisations trying to sell a perverted version of Islam to impressionable young people”.
“We want to make very clear, as Islamic scholars and leaders, that they are wrong,” he added. “The violent and hate-filled views they hold are not Islamic.”
A joint statement endorsed by 500 imams across the UK will “reiterate the commitment to not accepting terrorists in life or death by refusing to perform funeral prayers for terrorists”.
It comes after almost 200 imams and religious leaders made the same pledge in a separate statement shared by the Muslim Council of Britain.
Supporters said they were praying for terrorists to be “judged in accordance with the gravity of their crimes in the hereafter”, adding: “Consequently, and in light of other such ethical principles which are quintessential to Islam, we will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer for the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege.
“These vile murderers seek to divide our society and instil fear; we will ensure they fail.”
Shaykh Yunus Dudhwala, head of chaplaincy at Barts Health NHS Trust, said the “grassroots” movement was part of efforts to show those at risk of radicalisation that the ideology espoused by Isis is “not from the teachings of Islam”.
“We needed to go a step further and disassociate ourselves from these people,” he told The Independent.
“The refusal to perform funeral prayers will hopefully by a deterrent but we’re also trying to reach out to anyone who is of that thinking to say ‘talk to the imams, speak to us and ask us why we’ve made this statement’ – then we can have that dialogue and move them away from extremism.”
Imam Dudhwala said it was essential for young Muslims to be part of local mosques to gain full religious teaching and discuss theological questions.
“The majority of these individuals are groomed or brainwashed outside of the mosques and they usually don’t attend because they feel we are not teaching the correct Islam,” he added.
Mosques and Islamic groups across the UK have condemned the London Bridge attack and other atrocities committed by Isis supporters.
Worshippers at a mosque attended by Khuram Butt pointed out that he had been thrown out after ranting about elections and claiming voting was “un-Islamic”, but not detained despite numerous warnings to police over radicalisation.
Security services are facing serious questions over why they did not prioritise the attacker, who was known to police and MI5, and publicly associated with Anjem Choudary’s network of extremists.
They have also been criticised for letting fellow attacker Zaghba Youssef into the UK after he was prevented from travelling to join Isis in Syria and told Italian police he “wanted to be a terrorist”.
His mother, Valeria Collina, told reporters in Bologna she understood imams’ refusal to offer prayers for her son.
“I understand them and share their choice because we need to send a strong political signal,” she said.
The third attacker, Rachid Redouane, had been refused asylum in the UK but gained residency through his marriage to an Irish woman who suffered domestic abuse because of her refusal to convert to Islam.
Lizzie Dearden
@lizziedearden
* The Independent Online; Wednesday 7 June 2017 15:11 BST:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-attack-imans-no-funeral-prayers-terrorists-refuse-500-muslim-clerics-islam-isis-burial-khuram-a7776861.html