British Muslim women living in fear as hate surges after riots

Females are scared to wear the hijab or even leave their homes after widespread UK unrest

A Muslim woman waits for Friday prayers in Liverpool, one of the cities where race riots broke out this month. Reuters

For two decades Baroness Shaista Gohir has been championing Muslim women’s rights and set up a charity to help those facing abuse and hate.

Since the UK was rocked by recent riots, following false information circulating online that the suspect in a fatal stabbing of three young girls was a Muslim asylum seeker, she has worked on compiling a report to address the impact on Muslim women.

The charity she founded, the Muslim Women's Network, has recorded a huge surge in calls to its helpline.

A poll conducted by the charity, which she plans to present to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, found three quarters of women now feel unsafe compared with 16 per cent before this month's rioting.

Nearly one in five of the 200 people interviewed said they had encountered hostility since.

Damage caused by riots in the UK - in pictures

Tell Mama, a monitoring group that tracks complaints of anti-Muslim hate crimes, has said such rose fivefold during the riots when at least 10 mosques were attacked or threatened. For Baroness Gohir the trouble did not ease when the clashes ended.

“Our helpline has been overwhelmed with women concerned about what has been happening,” she told The National.

“The helpline we run is predominantly for abuse but over the last 12 months we have had women calling up over other issues of hate and during the recent riots we have seen a massive spike in incidents.

“Women are telling us that they thought the UK was the safest country in Europe, where they can practice their faith and wear what they want without fear of violence but now they are in shock.

“They knew there was always racism there but with the levels of violence seen recently they are worried not just for themselves if they wear a headscarf, but also for their children going to school.

“We have found they are worried about elderly people going to the shop, they have started doing shopping online because they are afraid to go out. They have started to go out in groups, [are] less likely to take public transport and have even received abuse while driving. They have been forced to change the way they behave and we need to address this.”

In Northern Ireland, schools near the sites of recent anti-immigration protests and racist attacks are to conduct risk assessments for the community as the new term starts.

Education Minister Paul Givan has written to a group of 400 Muslim women to reassure them that there has been a review of safety precautions at schools following the recent unrest.

Businesses owned by Muslims were targeted during race-related disorder in Belfast this month.

In Leeds a group has started Self Defence Sundays, a set of free hour-long classes for Muslim women, specifically to address issues triggered by the riots.

Yemeni-British poet Amina Atiq, who left Yemen aged four and grew up in Liverpool, told The National she and her family were forced into “lockdown” during the riots, too scared to leave the house.

Rioters attacked her local mosque, the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool, in which people were trapped inside.

She has been scared to leave the house in case she was a target due to wearing traditional dress and is anxious about returning to work in an educational establishment next month.

“It has been a very scary time for Muslim women,” she said.

“We saw places where we have [previously] been safe attacked. I have stayed inside, it was like another lockdown for my family and I.

“We had Islamic prayer signs on our front door to welcome guests and we had to take them down, so our house was not recognisable. I’m really active and my dad goes running every day but we just didn’t go out. We did our food shopping online so it was delivered.

“I finally realised I cannot stay at home forever and the more I go out the more I realise another Muslim will feel safe too. I’m a lot more cautious, though, I would go out in sunglasses and headphones but now I don’t because I need to be able to see and hear if anything happens. Before this I felt safe. I’m worried about going back to work in September and travelling on my own.”

She is concerned there will be a rise in youth violence when schools start again.

“It seems like things have calmed down and because of the tough sentences people are having to face the consequences of their actions. But there needs to be work done in my city and others.

“I feel we will see the rise of youth violence, I feel anxious, especially with the young people going back to school. There were a lot of young boys involved in the rioting and I’m worried it will fuel tensions.

“I work to create peace and social cohesion through my creative writing. This is the first time I have felt differently. It is the first time in my life I feel like we have taken a massive step backwards, especially after the changes made by Black Lives Matter we have gone 10 steps back. There needs to be a lot of work done now to address what has happened. We need to be more vocal on Islamophobia and how to protect Muslim women and be a lot more aware.”

Baroness Gohir, who became a life peer following her work with Muslim women, will table a question in the House of Lords next month asking the government what the drivers of hate crime against Muslims are and how this can be addressed.

She has previously published a report on Muslim women’s experiences of the criminal justice system, which shone a light on the justice gap faced by victims of abuse, while her latest report, which will be published next month, focuses on the harm experienced by Muslim women during the recent unrest.

“We need all this hate and abuse logging now, so the government has a true picture of what is happening,” she said. “The aftermath of the riots are going to be felt for many years to come and I want to keep up the momentum.”

When Parliament returns from summer break she hopes to submit her report to each government department to push for tougher laws.

“I think the government needs to strengthen hate crime legislation and we need a campaign to encourage women to report it,” she said.

“There is an issue if the majority who experience it are not reporting it to the police. We need to reform the current system. I will taking this report to all the government departments to show them the impact hate crime has had on Muslim women before and after the riots, and ask what they are going to do about it.

“I want to make sure that the views of Muslims are being considered in that process. I want to make sure Muslims are informed and are shaping it. I hope our report will be a powerful tool to hold the government to account.”

She is also hoping to set up a dedicated helpline for Muslim women to report hate crime.

“It is really important as Muslim women are more likely to be affected by it,” she said. "In my opinion the situation in the UK has got to this point because the previous government did very little to tackle hate crime and it emboldened people to think racism was acceptable.

“There have been very few consequences on the far right until now and, only now after riots, are they being locked up with heavy consequences. They can now see there are consequences for hate crime.

“I do blame some politicians for what has happened, if they do not call people out then they will carry on. I would like to see stronger codes of ethics in Parliament.”

Her concerns have been echoed by the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which reviews all countries' records on race hate every few years.

It urged Britain to pass measures to curb hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric, which it said had played a direct role in fuelling the summer riots.

"[The Committee] is concerned about the persistence and in some cases sharp increase of hate crimes, hate speech and xenophobic incidents," it said, following a review of Britain's record.

This included racist and xenophobic speeches by politicians and public figures, it said.

Committee member Gun Kut identified a direct link between xenophobic speeches and racial violence, and raised concerns about institutional racism in Britain's policing and justice system. He urged Britain to set up a mechanism to investigate complaints.

"There is an obvious concern about hate speech by prominent figures in the public," he said.

Baroness Gohir said the views of Muslims need to be at the fore as the dust settles. “We can’t let this rest, we have to keep the momentum up and show the government what is truly happening on the ground,” she said.

“Muslims need a voice as we look to ways to address this.”