Muslim women suffer most as London hate crime soars

Muslim women in the UK are far more likely to fall victim to hate crimes, monitoring groups say, as London police revealed statistics showing an alarming rise in Islamophobic attacks. The news comes after a shocking video emerged of an unprovoked violent attack on a hijab-wearing UK teenager, in which the victim was seen being […]

Muslim women in the UK are far more likely to fall victim to hate crimes, monitoring groups say, as London police revealed statistics showing an alarming rise in Islamophobic attacks.
The news comes after a shocking video emerged of an unprovoked violent attack on a hijab-wearing UK teenager, in which the victim was seen being punched in broad daylight while walking down the street.
Physical, verbal and online attacks on Muslims rose sharply in the 12 months to July, new data from London’s Metropolitan Police Service shows.
There were 816 offences in the period, compared with 478 in the preceding 12 months – an increase of almost 71 percent. Muslim women are bearing the brunt of the rise in attacks, which range from verbal abuse to violent assaults – including assailants tearing off niqabs or threatening to burn them with lighter fluid – observers say.
Fiyaz Mughal, director of the UK-based Islamophobia-monitoring group Tell MAMA, says that 60% of street-based Islamophobic attacks are against women.
The Metropolitan Police attributed the rise in recorded Islamophobic offences in London to a growing willingness of victims to report hate crime, the improved awareness of officers, as well as unspecified “world events”.