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مشاهدة النسخة كاملة : UK Muslim Family Under Racial Attacks


aammar
11-12-2012, 04:03 AM
An offensive graffiti has been painted outside the home of a British Muslim family in Bingham in north-western Britain, weeks after a cross wrapped in ham was left on their doorstep.

"My kids are scared and crying,” the 39-year-old Muslim father told the BBC News Online.

"They are in fear of their lives.”
The offensive graffiti attacking Islam and Allah was painted on the family path on Saturday morning.

The attack is not the first on the family who has just moved to Bingham last October after the mother separated from her husband.

The husband said he now had to move in with his family to protect them.

The 31-year-old mother and her two sons, eight and 10, say they have suffered five or six racist incidents since they moved to Bingham.

The most recent attack occurred three weeks ago when the family found a cross wrapped in ham left on their doorstep.

"Two days after the first incident I saw the eldest on the laptop looking at a map, looking for escape routes in case anything goes wrong,” the father said.

"I'm not even a strict Muslim at all, so for this to happen to my family is a joke."

The Muslim father believes that the attack clearly targets his wife.

“Clearly they are targeting my wife,” he said.

"I've got to assume it's because of the way she dresses in traditional Asian clothes, with a traditional headdress."

Nottinghamshire Police said they asked the council to remove the graffiti as soon as possible.

Hostility against British Muslims, estimated at nearly 2.5 million, has been on the rise since 2005’s 7/7 attacks.

Police data shows that 1,200 anti-Muslim attacks were reported in Britain in 2010.

A Financial Times opinion poll showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.

A poll of the Evening Standard found that a sizable section of London residents harbor negative opinions about Muslims.

Hate Crimes

A 13-year-old boy from Bingham was arrested in connection with the ham-covered cross and bailed.
The incident is not the first as the boy was also arrested in connection with two other incidents involving the same family.

"He is suspected of shouting racial abuse at a 32-year-old woman on 3 December and throwing a stone at their window on 4 December," a police statement said.

Police said he was also arrested in connection with incidents affecting two restaurants in Bingham.

On August 11, racist graffiti was scrawled on a Singaporean restaurant in Market Place, and on October 31 bricks were thrown at a Balti restaurant in Market Place.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson warned against a sharp increase in the hate and racial attacks.

"Hate crime is completely unacceptable in any degree or form and Nottinghamshire Police takes any incidents of this nature incredibly seriously,” he said.

"Increased patrols have been mounted to provide reassurance and officers have been conducting house-to-house enquiries and working very closely with the victims to ensure they are safe."

Last October, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has vowed to put an end to religious hate crimes against Muslims.

He also announced an extra £214,000 funding for an initiative called Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) run by interfaith group Faith Matters.

The national organization will help to inform a cross-government working group set up to tackle the problem and follows work in the Jewish community, by the Community Security Trust, to record anti-Semitic attacks and shape action to prevent them.

Along with monitoring anti-Muslim incidents, which is also done by Islamophobia Watch, Engage and the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Faith Matters would also offer a personal service to victims.
UK Muslim Family Under Racial Attacks - Europe - News - OnIslam.net (http://ww2.onislam.net/english/news/europe/460363-uk-muslim-family-under)...