Islamophobic attacks up by nearly 150% in Hackney

Hate crimes against Muslims more than doubled in Hackney over the last year – making it London’s third worst place for such attacks.

The figures – revealed by charity Tell Mama and obtained from the Met Police – show that there were 17 Islamaphobic attacks in the 12 months up to last December compared with seven the previous year – a 143 per cent increase. The borough is also the fifth worst in the capital for the overall number of racist and religious crimes, with 364 incidents – up five per cent on the year before.

Tell Mama believes the figures do not show the full picture, as “like hate crime reporting in general, under-reporting is a problem”.

Muslim Liberal Democrat Cllr Dawood Akhoon said: “It’s a worrying trend and I would agree that the [true] figures are probably a lot higher due to unreporting by the victims.

“I think that the rise in this type of hate crime is in part due to the fact that some sections of our media have a very negative, stereotypical, inaccurate coverage of Islam and Muslims.

“I would also hope that our local police will continue to robustly deal with incidents of Islamaphobia as well all other hate crimes.”

Deputy Mayor Cllr Sophie Linden said: “Any incident of hate crime is unacceptable and will be taken very seriously. We will continue to work closely with Stop Hate UK, community leaders and police to support individuals and target hate crime.”

n Anyone affected by hate crime should contact the free 24-hour Stop Hate Line on 0800 138 1625.