BRITAIN: Attacks on Muslims skyrocket

On July 28, the Islamic Human Rights Commission reported that attacks on Asian-Britons reported to it, and not to the police, had increased 13-fold since July 7 - from an average of 6-7 a week, to 170 in two weeks. The Muslim Safety Forum, which monitors police reports, has recorded a 500% increase in "faith-based attacks" in the same period, including attacks on nine mosques, and the murder of a young Pakistani on July 10. A spokesperson for the forum told the BBC that after "prominent people in society" had claimed all Muslims had something in common with those who bombed the London tube on July 7, "bigots felt they had a right to commit these atrocities". On July 24, the far-right National Front held a 300-strong protest outside a mosque in Scotland, and on July 26 a south Wales supermarket demanded all workers produce proof of citizenship or residency, or face suspension without pay. In mid-July, a mother found her nine-year-old son trying to hang himself so that the "bullies can't hurt me" after suffering racial abuse at his primary school. An ICM poll published on July 25 found that two-thirds of British Muslims have thought about emigrating since the July 7 attacks.

From Green Left Weekly, August 3, 2005.

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From GLW issue 636