The anti-Muslim backlash continues


The anti-Muslim backlash continues

Written by: IRR News Team


Racist attacks have continued in the weeks after the London bombings.

  • 20 July: Anti-Muslim slogans are daubed on a bridge over the A46 Lincoln bypass near Burton village in Lincolnshire. (BBC News 20.7.05)
  • 17 July: Muhammed Haq, 27, an imam at Dulwich Islamic Centre, is followed by the driver of a white van as he is cycling to prayers and then repeatedly punched to the ground by the man. He suffers a shattered cheekbone in the attack. A 20-year-old man is questioned on suspicion of racist assault. (South London Press 19.7.05)
  • 16 July: A man is seen defacing a sign at a Bangladeshi mosque in Swindon. A person who intervened is subjected to religious verbal abuse. (BBC News 18.7.05)
  • 16 July: A mosque in Cardiff receives racist hate-mail followed by a break-in, in which animal parts are left at the mosque. (BBC News 18.7.05)
  • 15 July:A 20-year-old University of Plymouth student, of Pakistani origin, suffers severe facial injuries and bruising to his arms and legs after three racist thugs verbally abuse him, stamp and smash a bottle over his head in a park in Plymouth. (Plymouth Evening Herald 19.7.05)
  • 14 July: Independent reports that eight people are arrested for public order offences at the Broadway pub in Beeston, Leeds, which is half a mile away from the home of one of the suspected London bombers. Police arrest members of the Leeds Services Crew, a football hooligan group, at the pub. (Independent 16.7.05)
  • 10 July: Racist graffiti is daubed on the pavement outside Park Primary School, Stratford, and on the wall of a home belonging to a Pakistani family nearby. Together, local residents paint over the graffiti. ( This is Local London 17.7.05)
  • 9 July: David Lane, 24, shouts racist abuse about the London bombings in Halifax town centre and is arrested by police officers patrolling the town centre. A week later he is fined £250 and ordered to pay £43 costs. (Halifax Courier 16.7.05)
  • 8 July 2005: A man threatens to bomb Hendon Islamic Centre and Mosque in London. (This is Hertfordshire 14.7.05)
  • 7/8 July 2005: Asian-owned businesses are targeted in the Cheshunt area of Hertfordshire. £26,000 worth of damage is caused after vehicles are driven through the front of five businesses, two Indian restaurants and three shops. (Cheshunt and Waltham Mercury 15.7.05)
  • 7 July: Pork is dumped outside the Dulwich Islamic Centre in South-east London. (South London Press 19.7.05)

See also IRR News story The anti-Muslim backlash begins.

Related links

IRR News story The anti-Muslim backlash begins

Islamic Human Rights Commission on-line racist incident reporting form


The Institute of Race Relations is monitoring racist incidents. Please contact us if you have any information on attacks committed in the wake of the London bombings. Alternatively you can report racist incidents to the police or the Islamic Human Rights Commission who have created an on-line reporting form that can be filled in anonymously. See the Islamic Human Rights Commission on-line racist incident reporting form.


The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors.

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