Police have said that since the attack at last month’s Ariana Grande concert, Islamophobic attacks have increased by over 500 percent in Manchester.
Official statistics show that in this period 2016 there were 37 hate crimes recorded. This compares to the 224 reports seen in the month after the attack.
“Greater Manchester has a diverse population, with people from different faiths and backgrounds, and this is something that we are proud of. It’s what makes us the city we are. We will not tolerate hatred or discrimination of any kind.” said Rob Potts, assistant chief constable of GMP.
Since the attack on Finsbury Park mosque in London, police have increased protection of Muslim communities.
“When a major tragedy occurs such as the attacks in Manchester and London, it is sadly not unusual for there to be a spike in the amount of hate crimes, specifically against race and religion, but thankfully they do decrease again quickly.” said Potts.
“We continue to monitor the levels of hate crimes that are reported and it is essential that we remind people about the importance of reporting when a hate crime happens to you, or you see it happening.”
“Hate crime is often under-reported for a number of reasons, but we want people to have the confidence in coming forward as no one should be the subject of hate and intolerance.”
Potts has said that the number hate crimes have returned to normal levels in recent days but there is also the risk of under-reporting.
Matthew Feldman, who studies the contemporary far-right in Europe said: “Unlike all other forms of ethnically-based or faith-based hate attacks which are majority male-on-male, anti-Muslim hate attacks are majority male-on-female. That has to be very concerning.”
“One of the concerns is that we don’t go back to normal, we have an elevated level of hate crimes and hate reported incidents after these kinds of attacks.”