Anti-Muslim Attacks Soar in Cambridge
“These are disturbing figures relating to despicable crimes often driven by no other motive than the fact that the victim has different religious beliefs or a different color skin,” Julian Huppert, Cambridge MP was quoted by Cambridge News on Monday, January 20.
“It’s very sad that some people can’t see beyond those differences to treat everybody equally and find out the individual qualities that everybody has.
“I hope that eventually we will be able to eradicate these horrendous crimes and celebrate our differences,” Huppert added.
Revealing the numbers of racial and religious hate crimes since 2011, police have reported soaring anti-Muslim hate crimes in Cambridgeshire over the past months.
The figure has changed dramatically after the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
Within the two months, following the solider killing, about 86% of faith hate crimes in the county have targeted Muslims, falling victim to 12 out of total 14 crimes.
The figures were striking if compared to the only two anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded within six-month period before Lee Rigby’s killing in May 2013.
In September 2013, about 15 anti-Muslim hate crimes were recorded, compared with three in the same month in 2012 and nine in 2011.
Hundreds of anti-Muslim hate offences have been carried out across UK in 2013, with Britain's Metropolitan police recording an increase of 49% than last year.
The Metropolitan Police recorded 500 Islamophobic offences from January to mid-November this year, compared with 336 offences in 2012 and 318 in 2011.
In May alone, the month when two extremists under the name of “Islam” murdered soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London, Scotland Yard recorded 104 anti-Muslim hate crimes, followed by another 108 in June.
New Tactics
Condemning racial and religious hate crimes, members of Cambridgeshire are demanding rigid punishments and new tactics to curb these attacks.
“All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable,” said Sgt Matt Gadsby, from the Community Cohesion Unit.
“In Cambridge city last year we dealt with 94 recorded hate crimes and detected 59 of those offences in a range of outcomes from caution to imprisonment.
“We have also sought to use a number of other tactics in targeting hate crime, such as the anti-social behavior order granted in August against David Camp,” he added.
Urging victims to report hate crimes, Gadsby said, “We take all reports extremely seriously and want to give victims every confidence to report incidents.”
Pointing to the positive indicators of hate crimes depression in Cambridgesgire, Gadsby said: “Hate crime in the city for December was at its lowest level since January 2012.”
“We have an excellent relationship with both the Muslim and wider communities in Cambridge which is enhanced by having officers dedicated to both community and faith engagement,” he added.
Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million.
British Muslims and mosques have been potential targets for dozens of attacks after the killing of a British soldier in Woolwich, south London, last May.
British Muslims have condemned the machete killing as contradicting with the basic teachings of Islam.
Yet, the number of anti-Islamic attacks has increased as much as tenfold in the days that followed the Woolwich murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.
Source: On Islam
