Islamophobia in the UK 2024: False Excuses to Attack Muslims

Islamophobia is not an abstract concept but a pervasive reality affecting countless lives daily. Islamophobia Response Unit (IRU) data shows a sustained increase in Islamophobia from January 2024 to April 2024. The increase would amount to 300%. Tell Mama UK says it has recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate in the past year, the highest total in 14 years.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024 has a record of hundreds of cases of physical assault, vandalism, and threats. Considerably, Muslim women were the victims in two out of every three incidents. Islamophobia is country-wide. Most reported incidents occurred in London, the Midlands, Yorkshire, and northwest England.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024: IRU Data

Islamophobia response unit data shows a sustained increase in Islamophobia from January 2024 to April 2024. It shows a percentage change from a monthly average for the five months preceding October 2023 (until September 2023). IRU data indicates a 236% increase in case reports received between January 2024 and April 2024. If we were to include incidents as separate and distinct from reports, the increase would amount to 300%.

IRU hears of similar increases from partner organizations and in discussions with Police forces. This is despite the reluctance of Muslim communities to report. It is due to distrust of authorities stemming from media and political demonization of the Muslim community. It combines with the failure to call out Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate speech.

Anti-Muslim Abuse and Attacks: Tell Mama Statistics

Tell Mama UK says it has recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate in the past year, the highest total in 14 years. There is a record number of anti-Muslim attacks and incidents of abuse in the UK since the Oct. 7 attacks last year. Tell Mama UK said it recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate between Oct. 7, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024.  It is the highest total in the past 14 years.

Tell Mama, which tracks complaints of anti-Muslim hate crimes, said 63% of the reported hate cases were abusive. At the same time, 27% involved threatening behaviour. Most of the incidents occurred in London, the northwest of England, Yorkshire, and the Midlands.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024: Statistics of Different Months

Greater Manchester police recorded an average of 39 Islamophobic offences a month from January to July 2024. It is before a sharp jump to 85 in August, with numbers dropping again in September. Similarly, antisemitic offences recorded by West Yorkshire police averaged six a month in earlier 2023, rising to 44 in October before falling again. Islamophobic offences averaged 39 a month in 2024 before rising to 94 in August and then dropping to 73 in September.

The Metropolitan Police changed how it records hate crimes at the end of February 2024. Under the previous method, an average of 54 antisemitic offences a month were logged in 2023. This jumped sharply to 517 in October, 411 in November, and 228 in December. Under the new method, there was an average of 116 Islamophobic offences in 2024, rising to 190 in August. However, most forces recorded apparent year-on-year increases in the total number of these crimes.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024: Anti-Muslim Hate is Cancerous

Atta attributed a part of Islamophobia in the UK 2024, the rise in anti-Muslim hatred, to the riots in the wake of the Southport knife attack. It was when fake news spread online claiming that the perpetrator of the attack was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Ata said the violent unrest in the summer showed that “a segment of society carries racism and anti-Muslim sentiment, and they think this is normal.” In the unrest, mosques were their target, and hotels for asylum seekers were set alight. She said: “The anti-migrant, anti-Muslim narratives, mixed with grooming suggestions, tell us that international incidents change the view of some citizens against Muslim communities. Anti-Muslim hate is a cancer; it is a hate that needs concerted action to challenge it. However, some politicians do not even speak about it. It says so much about those politicians that they cannot even say anything about this form of hate. Sadly, there are many of them.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024: Targeting Women

Since Oct. 7, visibly Muslim individuals, particularly women, have been increasingly the hate targets for their perceived support of Palestinian rights, Atta said. Muslim women were the targets in two out of every three recorded incidents. The organization recorded some incidents. For example, a person assaulted a Muslim woman in Islamic clothing on a bus in east London and told her: “You Muslims are troublemakers.” A written death threat aimed at worshippers at a mosque.

There is a record of hundreds of cases of physical assault, vandalism, and threats. Sadly, Muslim women were the victims in two out of every three incidents. This growing hostility has threatened Muslims’ security and affected their social mobility, careers, and education. It has undermined their fundamental rights. The report revealed that nearly two-thirds (63%) of the incidents involved abusive behaviour. At the same time, 27% were under the category of threatening behaviour.

Islamophobia in the UK 2024: Obvious Causes

Domestic events also play a crucial role in the expansion of Islamophobia in the UK in 2024. The most notable events are the riots that rocked the UK in the wake of the Southport knife attack in July. The rebels killed three children and injured 10 other people.

False claims immediately circulated online that the offender behind the attacks was Ali Al Shakati, an asylum seeker. It leads to a wave of anti-Muslim hate. Mosques were the targets of some of the worst violence seen on the UK’s streets in modern times. It prompted the mother of one of the murdered children to make an emotional plea. “This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight,” Elsie Dot’s mother said. “The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours, and they and we don’t need this.”