Acid attacks and terrorism stoking fears of Muslims

ASPATE of acid attacks linked to anti-Islamic hate crime are adding to an increasing fear in inner city Birmingham, a charity has claimed.

Anxieties have been high following the terror attacks at Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, according to the charity Tell Mama, which fights Islamophobia.

But the problem has been exacerbated by false reports of attacks, according to the charity’s West Midlands representative Abdullah Rehman.

One recent rumour on social media suggested a man with a hammer was running around Balsall Heath looking to kill Muslim women.

It turned out that pictures were of a victim from an attack in Ohio USA, and no attack in Birmingham had taken place.

West Midlands Police even issued a statement confirming there was no such attack and warning people not to share fake reports.

Now the Tell Mama campaign is encouraging genuine victims of Islamophobic violence and abuse to come forward to give and accurate picture of the problem.

Mr Rehman, who is also chief executive of the Balsall Heath Forum, said: “My phone was ringing, social media was full of this attack – but it never happened. People were really frightened.

“It was the same with a car crash, people thought it was terrorism after Finsbury Park. It was drunk drivers or boy racers – nothing to do with hate crime.

“All this does is cause more fear and prevents us reporting and dealing with genuine cases.”

He said there was genuine anxiety around recent Islamophobic acid attacks in London which have left victims disfigured.

Police revealed there have been 57 acid attacks in the region in the last three years, of which 26 were in Birmingham. But the figures did not reveal how many were hate crimes.

Mr Rehman is liaising with police and offering support to victims of abuse.

Of particular concern is abuse on public transport, particularly targeted at women.

Mr Rehman said: “When I grew up in the 1970s there was racist abuse and people just took it, we did not complain.

“But people need to complain, to come forward, to report it and to challenge it, otherwise it will not stop.”