Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 18-10-2017
A government report has indicated that the number of hate crimes against Britons of ethnic or religious minorities has soared around the time the UK voted to quit the European Union and in the aftermath of recent attacks.
The report also revealed that Muslim women were the primary target of hate crime in the UK.
Al Jazeera reports, the Home Affairs Department says there was a 29 percent rise in a year marking the biggest annual jump in hate crimes since figures were first recorded in 2011.
Between 2015 and 2016, there were 62,518 reported offences while the the following year, that number rose to 80,393.
Religious or racially aggravated offences rose in the months leading up to the vote, from about 3,500 recorded incidents in April 2016 to more than 5,000 in June of the same year, when the decision to leave the EU was announced.
In June 2017, reported hate crimes peaked at 6,000.
The Home Office says figures rose in the wake of the Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena and London Bridge attacks, which took place in March, May, and June of this year respectively, together claiming more than 30 lives.
Hate crimes and Islamophobia tend to rise after violence where suspects are said to be Muslim, with followers of the Islamic faith suffering collective punishment.
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