Hate crimes up in backlash against terrorist attacks

Britain experienced similar rises after other terrorist attacks this year, which have left 36 people dead

Several months after the suicide bomb attack on Manchester Arena, Siema Iqbal read the story of Aladdin to her six-yearold son and asked what three wishes he would ask from the genie of the lamp.

Predictably in this city of two world-famous clubs, he said that he wanted to be a footballer, to be famous – and to be safe. “That really shocked me, it made me sad,” said Ms Iqbal, a doctor in Manchester.

A family acquaintance, well-respected surgeon Nasser Kurdy, was stabbed in the neck in a hate crime in September in nearby Altrincham. But she was still taken aback that her son was expressing such fears.

Police reported a 500 per cent rise in hate crime in the city in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the pop concert attended mainly by children and their families. The incidents included a surge in threats to kill on social media, which were dealt with by police.

The nature of an attack targeting children meant the backlash was the largest after any of the terrorist attacks that have hit Britain this year, according to Tell Mama, a group that monitors incidents of anti-Muslim abuse.

It said 90 per cent of incidents were not reported to the police.

The city’s officials, police and residents have been lauded for their response to the tragedy and rallying around the slogan “We love Manchester”.

The city has historically been open to mass migration, started by Irish workers drawn for work in textile mills in the 19th century.

The Arab population amounts to about 2 per cent of the 500,000 population in the city and less in satellite districts.

“Manchester came together in a way that I’ve never witnessed before. It was the first time I felt really proud to be a Mancunian,” said Fakrul Choudhury, regional co-ordinator for Tell Mama. “But in parts of Manchester and in the surrounding towns, hate crime did increase.”

A fund for the victims has raised £18 million (Dh87.85m) and a series of city-centre vigils were held to remember the dead and wounded.

“Many Muslims did come but I know that many, many did not come for fear of if they wore a headscarf would they be treated differently,” said Ms Iqbal.

Hate crimes more than doubled in May and June compared with last year, according to the Greater Manchester Police.

The most recent figures for August show that such crimes have reduced from the peak but were still two-thirds higher than the previous year.

Britain experienced similar spikes after other terrorist attacks this year, which have left 36 people dead, including two attacks in London when vehicles were used to ram pedestrians.

Other anti-Muslim attacks came after overseas acts of terrorism, the Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump, according to Tell Mama.

At least two mosques were hit in the Greater Manchester area after the Arena attacks.