Attacks on Muslims intensify as mosque targeted in UK
Racially motivated attacks targeting Muslims in Europe have taken a dramatic rise over the past week as individuals and places of worship have come under attack. The latest hate crime targeted the Cumbernauld Mosque in North Lanarkshire with perpetrators writing Islamophobic graffiti on its walls.
They sprayed "Deus Vault" ("God Wills It" in Latin) - a term coined to unify soldiers in the Crusades to fight against Muslim Seljuk Turks in the 11th century - and "Saracen Go Home" on the walls of the mosque. Saracen is a medieval term for Muslims popular among Christian writers.
A statement by the police said the attack was carried out between 8:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning and an investigation has been launched.
The attack was not the first of those targeting Muslims last week as a man was stabbed in a London train station by an individual who screamed "I want to kill a Muslim." Mohamed Askar Ali, a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin was hospitalized with stab wounds in his chest and eye. The attacker was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
A Muslim woman was targeted in another Islamophobic attack last week in the Chingford area in the capital London. Two individuals wearing all black tried to pull a hijab off the woman and dragged her on the pavement.
According to a report by TellMama, a monitoring group recording anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.K., more than 100 mosques have been targeted in Islamophobic attacks in the last three-and-a-half years in the country.
In a shock referendum result, Britain voted on June 23 to leave the 28-nation European Union. Pro-Brexit supporters campaigned heavily on immigration and the need to regain control on Britain's borders, in a referendum battle fought against the backdrop of Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II. As well as "intolerance," which it said was promoted by the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), the report also noted criticism of Prime Minister David Cameron when he spoke in July 2015 about a "swarm" of migrants trying to reach Britain.
In response to increasing violence against Muslims and refugees across the country, the British government plans to ban an extreme right wing group, National Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 — the first time a right-wing organization has been banned under the legislation. A slogan used by Thomas Mair in court, "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain," appears in online results when searching for National Action.
There has been a surge in hate crimes across Britain in the wake of June's referendum, which saw Britons vote to exit the EU with immigration as one of the key issues. At its peak, there was a 58 percent increase in hate crimes and police recorded more than 14,000 such crimes in the period running from a week before the vote to mid-August. There are approximately 3 million Muslims currently living in the U.K.
They sprayed "Deus Vault" ("God Wills It" in Latin) - a term coined to unify soldiers in the Crusades to fight against Muslim Seljuk Turks in the 11th century - and "Saracen Go Home" on the walls of the mosque. Saracen is a medieval term for Muslims popular among Christian writers.
A statement by the police said the attack was carried out between 8:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning and an investigation has been launched.
The attack was not the first of those targeting Muslims last week as a man was stabbed in a London train station by an individual who screamed "I want to kill a Muslim." Mohamed Askar Ali, a Muslim of Bangladeshi origin was hospitalized with stab wounds in his chest and eye. The attacker was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
A Muslim woman was targeted in another Islamophobic attack last week in the Chingford area in the capital London. Two individuals wearing all black tried to pull a hijab off the woman and dragged her on the pavement.
According to a report by TellMama, a monitoring group recording anti-Muslim hate crimes in the U.K., more than 100 mosques have been targeted in Islamophobic attacks in the last three-and-a-half years in the country.
In a shock referendum result, Britain voted on June 23 to leave the 28-nation European Union. Pro-Brexit supporters campaigned heavily on immigration and the need to regain control on Britain's borders, in a referendum battle fought against the backdrop of Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II. As well as "intolerance," which it said was promoted by the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), the report also noted criticism of Prime Minister David Cameron when he spoke in July 2015 about a "swarm" of migrants trying to reach Britain.
In response to increasing violence against Muslims and refugees across the country, the British government plans to ban an extreme right wing group, National Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 — the first time a right-wing organization has been banned under the legislation. A slogan used by Thomas Mair in court, "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain," appears in online results when searching for National Action.
There has been a surge in hate crimes across Britain in the wake of June's referendum, which saw Britons vote to exit the EU with immigration as one of the key issues. At its peak, there was a 58 percent increase in hate crimes and police recorded more than 14,000 such crimes in the period running from a week before the vote to mid-August. There are approximately 3 million Muslims currently living in the U.K.