Exclusive: London sees spike in Islamophobic incidents

Wreaths outside London’s Finsbury Park mosque in the wake of a June 2017 attack that left one man dead. A protester highlights the growing concern over hate crimes in the
city. (Getty Images)
Updated 08 January 2019
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Exclusive: London sees spike in Islamophobic incidents

  • Figures given exclusively to Arab News show a spike in incidents — and police warn the situation on the street is even worse

DUBAI: Dozens of Islamophobic attacks are being recorded in London every week as the city faces a rising wave of hate crime, figures released exclusively to Arab News show.

Police in the UK capital are stepping up measures to halt anti-Muslim attacks, and warn that a “vast number” of incidents is still going unreported.

A total of 1,003 incidents of Islamophobia were reported in London between January and September last year — about 26 a week — compared with 1,662 incidents in 2017 and 1,224 in 2016, the figures show.

In 2011, fewer than 320 incidents were reported.

“Reports of Islamophobic hate crime are continuing to rise in London,” Det. Sgt. Tony Forsyth, of the Metropolitan Police, told Arab News.

The figures were alarming, but failed to reflect the true gravity of the situation across the city since many victims neglected to report racially motivated crimes, he said. “We know that nationally a vast number of hate crimes are still not reported to police. We would urge victims or witness to a hate crime to come forward.”

Islamophobia accounts for roughly a 10th of all racist and religious hate crimes. More than 12,350 hate crimes were reported in London in the eight months to September this year, compared with 16,995 in 2017.

Forsyth said the rise in the number of incidents could be due partly to victims having more confidence in reporting crimes.

However, he said that a string of terror attacks in wider Europe and across the UK, including the suicide bombing that killed 22 people following a concert by pop star Ariana Grande in Manchester in May 2017, followed by the London Bridge knife rampage that left eight dead — were also to blame.

In 2005, in the aftermath of the July 7 London terror attacks, the number of Islamophobic incidents increased dramatically, with 44 incidents reported in the three months before the attacks compared with 365 in the following three months.

However, Forsyth said the police force and its 30,000 officers were taking extra measures to reduce the number of Islamophobic and racially motivated hate crime across the capital, and give victims the further confidence to report attacks in their neighborhoods and communities.

“Where more people are reporting hate crimes, it helps us identify where and when the crime is taking place and who the repeat offenders are,” he said. 

In London, the most commonly recorded hate crime in relation to “faith hate matters” is violence against a person, which can range from common assault to more serious attacks, said Forsyth.

Public order offenses and criminal damage, such as vandals daubing a mosque with graffiti, are also among racially motivated crimes reported to police.

“In terms of the language used by perpetrators, we have found that offenders can be influenced by media stories and material found online,” said Forsyth. “In a number of crimes reported, there is evidence of a clear lack of knowledge on the part of the perpetrator around faith matters and teachings.”

Police define an Islamophobic incident as one that “is perceived by the victim or any other person to be due to a person’s religion
(of Islam).” 

“Islamophobic incidents have a significant and wide-ranging impact on Muslim communities in London,” said Forsyth. “We work alongside our counter-terrorism colleagues to ensure that where there may be extremist or far-right perpetrators driven by hate-fueled ideologies, these individuals are identified quickly.”

Police have developed close links with third-party reporting groups, such as TruVision, Tell MAMA, Galop and CST, in order to gain a fuller understanding of hate crime and the extent of under-reporting.

A widely publicized example of the rise of Islamophobia was “Punish a Muslim Day,” when letters were sent encouraging recipients to carry out violent acts against Muslims in a malicious advert circulated in London and other UK cities.

Forsyth said police and the UK’s North-East Counter-Terrorism Unit investigated the incident and worked with local community and faith organizations across London to reassure communities in the wake of the adverts.

Given the rise in figures, Forsyth said police were ramping up efforts to stem the growing tide of Islamophobia across the UK capital.

The Met Online Hate Crime Hub, for example, is a cadre of officers who investigate online hate cases with key partners, including social media providers, victim support organizations, academic experts, and online and social media data analysts. 

The MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) project, also known as Tell MAMA, is an NGO that monitors anti-Muslim activity in the UK and acts as an independent third-party reporting service for those who have experienced Islamophobic abuse, discrimination or violence.

In its 2017 annual report, the organization said that it had received 1,201 verified accounts of anti-Muslim hatred, with 3,005 incidents reported in the past three years.

Professor Peter Hopkins, of Newcastle University, who contributed to the report, said it “clearly demonstrates the need for action to tackle anti-Muslim hatred in the UK.”

The report found that 70 percent of incidents last year took place offline and just over half of those involved cases of abusive behavior, with physical attacks accounting for nearly 20 percent.

“It is concerning that in 2017 there was a 56 percent increase in incidents involving discrimination and an 88 percent increase in vandalism,” Hopkins said.

Most incidents of anti-Muslim hatred took place in public areas and transport networks. However, in 2017, 12 percent of hate crimes took place in or near private property or households — a 26 percent increase year-on-year. The report found that most victims of anti-Muslim hatred were women and most of the perpetrators were male.

According to Tell Mama’s latest report, the most widely reported anti-Muslim hate incident was abusive behavior, followed by physical attacks. 

The group also saw a temporary spike in online reports in March and April 2018, following the “Punish A Muslim Day” campaign.

Iman Atta, director of Tell MAMA, said that Muslim women were most at risk of Islamophobic attacks. “Every year since 2012, most victims of street-based hate crimes have been women,” she said.

“Of equal concern are the rising levels of aggression being shown to victims at street level. This possibly indicates that something is changing for the worst.”

Shahid Malik, chair of the organization, said that the rise in anti-Muslim hate “affects lives, families, communities and, ultimately, the safety of our entire country.

“(Hate crime) divides communities and leads some toward extremist groups if they feel that they have no access to justice.”


Sweden to send NATO troops to Latvia next year: PM

Updated 11 min 20 sec ago
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Sweden to send NATO troops to Latvia next year: PM

  • The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March
  • The battalion would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops

STOCKHOLM: Sweden will next year contribute a reduced battalion to NATO forces in Latvia to help support the Baltic state following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday.
The Swedish troop contribution was the first to be announced since the Scandinavian country joined NATO in March.
Kristersson had in January announced that Sweden would likely send a battalion to take part in NATO’s permanent multinational mission in Latvia, dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence, aimed at boosting defense capacity in the region.
“The government this morning gave Sweden’s armed forces the formal task of planning and preparing for the Swedish contribution of a reduced mechanized battalion to NATO’s forward land forces in Latvia,” Kristersson told reporters during a press conference with his Latvian counterpart Evika Silina.
He said the battalion, which will be in Latvia for six months, would be comprised of around 400 to 500 troops.
“Our aim is a force contribution, including CV 90s armored vehicles and Leopard 2 main battle tanks.”
“We’re planning for the deployment early next year after a parliament decision,” he said.


UK police make fourth arrest after migrant deaths off France

Updated 46 min 3 sec ago
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UK police make fourth arrest after migrant deaths off France

  • NCA said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally
  • The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning

LONDON: UK police said Thursday that they had arrested another man after five migrants, including a child, died this week trying to cross the Channel from France.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The arrest came as part of an investigation into the Channel small boat crossing which resulted in the deaths of five people on a French beach on Tuesday.
The NCA detained two Sudanese nationals aged 19 and 22, and a South Sudan national, also 22, on Tuesday and Wednesday, also on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
The 19-year-old has been released without charge, and is now being dealt with by immigration authorities, said the NCA.
The latest arrest took place at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and the suspect was taken into custody for questioning.
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the early hours of Tuesday in the sea near the northern French town of Wimereux.
They had been in a packed boat that set off before dawn but whose engine stopped a few hundred meters from the beach.
Several people then fell into the water. About 50 people were rescued and brought ashore but emergency services were unable to resuscitate the five.
Fifteen people have died this year trying to cross the busy shipping lane from northern France to southern England, according to an AFP tally.
That is already more than the 12 who died in the whole of last year.


Belgium summons Israeli ambassador over aid worker’s death

Updated 12 min 9 sec ago
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Belgium summons Israeli ambassador over aid worker’s death

  • Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed in Israel strike
  • The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering

BRUSSELS: Belgium said Thursday that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to explain the death in a Gaza airstrike of an aid worker with its Enabel development agency, as well as members of his family.
“Bombing civilian areas and populations is contrary to international law. I will summon the Israeli ambassador to condemn this unacceptable act and demand an explanation,” Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said on X.
Enabel said in a statement that Abdallah Nabhan, 33, along with his seven-year-old son, 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and six-year-old niece, were killed “after an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of the city of Rafah.”

 


The airstrike hit the family home where 25 people were sheltering, including people displaced by the Israeli military operation in Gaza, Enabel said.
It said that Nabhan, who had worked on a Belgian development project helping young people find jobs, and his family were on a list Israel had of people eligible to exit Gaza, but that they were killed before being granted permission to leave.
Enabel’s chief, Jean Van Wetter, called their deaths “yet another flagrant violation by Israel of international humanitarian law.”
The health ministry in Gaza, run by the Hamas militant group, says more than 34,000 people have died in the war being waged in the Palestinian territory, most of them women and children.
Israel is conducting airstrikes and ground operations there in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed around 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency, is among the European countries most vocal in condemning Israel’s operation as disproportionately deadly for Palestinian civilians.

 


Ukraine, Russia exchange fire, at least seven dead

Updated 25 April 2024
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Ukraine, Russia exchange fire, at least seven dead

  • The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine
  • A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in Kherson

MOSCOW: Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged drone and artillery fire on Thursday, leaving at least seven dead, regional officials on both sides of the frontline announced.
The uptick in civilian deaths came as Russian forces are pressing in hard in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, ahead of events in Moscow on May 9, hailing the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.
A Ukrainian attack drone left two dead in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and two more were killed by Ukranian artillery fire in the southern Kherson region, officials said.
The Kremlin claimed to have annexed both regions in late 2022 even though Russian forces are still battling to gain full control over them.
"A man and a woman were killed as a result of a strike on a civilian car. Their four young children were orphaned," the Russian-installed head of Zaporizhzhia, Evgeny Balitsky, wrote on social media.
He said the children would be taken into care and provided with psychological assistance.
The Russian head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said separately that two more people were killed by Ukrainian fire in the village of Dnipryany.
The two frontline regions saw intense bouts of fighting in 2022 and the summer of 2023, when Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that failed to meet expectations in Zaporizhzhia.
The brunt of the fighting has since moved to the eastern Donetsk region, which is also claimed by Moscow as Russian territory.
The Ukrainian head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said three people had been killed in separate bouts of shelling in the villages of Udachne, where two people were killed, and in Kurakhivka, where one person was killed.
"The final consequences of the shelling have yet to be determined," he said.


Keralites in Gulf take ‘vote flights’ to join India’s mammoth polls

Updated 25 April 2024
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Keralites in Gulf take ‘vote flights’ to join India’s mammoth polls

  • ‘Vote flights’ are special chartered flights bringing Keralites home to cast ballots
  • Kerala is the single main place of origin of Indian expats living in Gulf countries

NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of Keralites working in Gulf countries are flying home to cast their ballots as the southern Indian state opens for voting on Friday in the world’s biggest general election.

India’s seven-phase polls started on April 19 and take place over the next six weeks, with more than 968 million people registered to vote.

Some states are completing the process in a day, and others have it spread out in several phases. Kerala is joining other 12 states, which according to the schedule go to the polls on April 26.

Indian nationals living overseas have been allowed to vote since 2011 and have to register with both the Election Commission of India and Indian embassies in their countries of residence. Their names will then appear on the voters’ list, but to cast their ballots, they still need to be physically present in their constituencies.

India has one of the world’s largest diasporas, especially in GCC countries, where at least 9 million Indian expats live and work. The southwestern coastal state of Kerala is the single main place of their origin. Some 3.5 million Keralites reside in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.

“I think about 30,000 people have come from Saudi Arabia alone to vote. Not all of them have come on ‘vote viman’ (vote flights). Some have also come by regular flights,” said Iqbal Cheri, a marketing professional working in Dammam, who reached Kerala on Thursday.

Cheri referred to the flights that have been bringing citizens home to participate in Friday’s polls.

“They bring voters only and they are mostly chartered flights,” he said. “We have come here to vote and save our democracy and secularism. It’s an important election and we all need to vote to save the nation.”

His compatriot, Shareef Chola Paramdil, who works as a marketing head of a hospital in Dammam, said these election flights have been bringing Saudi Arabia-based Kerala voters home for the past few days.

“Last week, also three chartered flights came from Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“People who come on the chartered flights pay less compared to the regular flights, as group booking brings down the fare. Besides, these people don’t get more than a few days of leave. So, they come and cast their votes and leave the next day.”

There are 543 contested seats in the lower house of parliament. The party or coalition that wins at least 272 is going to form the government. The state of Kerala will contribute 20.

For Paramdil, the election is particularly important as a Muslim because incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been accused by the opposition and minority groups of marshaling majoritarian Hindu sentiment.

Critics say that India’s tradition of diversity and secularism has been under attack since Modi took power a decade ago and that his party has been fostering religious intolerance and discrimination.

“We want a government that does not discriminate in the name of religion, and we have been troubled by the politics of division that the government in Delhi has been practicing ever since it came to power in 2014,” Paramdil said.

Both Keralite Muslims and Hindus — like Gokul Padnabhan, a Kuwait-based professional in the oil and gas industry — see the election as an important exercise of their democratic rights.

“It’s very important to be here this time. That’s why I came for the vote,” Padnabhan said. “The vote will help us find the right person to rule us for the next five years.”

One of the organizations helping expat voters charter flights in Gulf countries is the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, an overseas wing of the Indian Union Muslim League.

“I feel around 100,000 people have come from the Gulf region to vote in this election,” said Ahamed Saju, head of the IUML’s student federation.

“Why they came is because this is a very crucial election this time ... Each and every vote is important. So, they thought that this time to protect our democracy, protect our constitution, protect our values and protect our secular credentials and the secular fabric of the country.”