The anti-Muslim backlash begins


The anti-Muslim backlash begins

Written by: IRR News Team


In the hours after the bombings in London, the backlash began. Innocent people, as in the bombings, were targeted in what appear to be racially motivated attacks.

  • 13 July 2005: Guardian reports that a schoolboy has been attacked in the West Country. (Guardian 13.7.05)
  • 12 July 2005: A 16-year-old Asian boy suffers head and facial injuries after an unprovoked attack by a White man. The young boy was walking with an 11-year-old friend on Leith Walk in Edinburgh when they were racially abused and then attacked by the White man. (BBC News 13.7.05)
  • 12 July 2005: Independent reports that there have been acts of arson and criminal damage in mosques in Leeds and Telford.
  • 12 July 2005: Guardian reports that the BNP has produced a leaflet for a by-election in Barking, east London, with images from the London bombings and the words ‘maybe now it’s time to start listening to the BNP’. (Guardian 12.7.05)
  • 12 July 2005: Glasgow Herald reports that the door of the Pakistan consulate in Bradford was damaged after an arson attack; a 27-year-old man was later arrested. (Glasgow Herald 12.7.05)
  • 12 July 2005: BBC News reports that Bournemouth Islamic centre has received three death threats since the London bombings. (BBC News 12.7.05)
  • 11 July 2005: The home of a Muslim family is torched in a suspected arson attack in Torquay. The family are not at home when the fire is started.
  • 10 July 2005: 48-year-old Kamal Raza Butt, a Pakistani man who is visiting friends and family in Nottingham, is set upon by a gang of White youths. He is allegedly called ‘Taliban’ and then punched to the ground and dies later in hospital. Two 16-year-old youths are charged with his manslaughter, seven others are baailed pending further inquiries. (BBC News 13.7.05)
  • 10 July 2005: The Islamic Centre in Rose Lane, Norwich, is vandalised in a racist attack; four windows are damaged. Police arrest two women at the scene, aged 23 and 26, who are later released on bail. (Eastern Daily Press 13.7.05)
  • 10 July 2005: A 20-year-old Muslim student from the United Arab Emirates is racially abused, chased and threatened with a knife by three men in the Charminster area of Bournemouth. (BBC News 13.7.05)
  • 9 July 2005: Independent reports that a fire at a Sikh temple in Armley, Leeds, is being treated as suspicious; Kent police are investigating two assaults on Muslim men in Dartford.
  • 9 July 2005: Six windows are broken at a mosque in Easton, Bristol. (Muslim News 10.7.05)
  • 9 July 2005: Abdul Munim is rescued by fire-fighters from the Shajala mosque in Birkenhead, Liverpool, after two White men pour petrol through its letter box and set it alight at 12.35am. The mosque is badly damaged. A 27-year-old man is arrested. (Independent 12.7.05)
  • 9 July 2005: The windows at Mazhirul Uloom Educational and Cultural Institution, east London, are smashed. (Muslim News 10.7.05)
  • 8 July 2005: Al Madina Jamia mosque in Leeds is petrol bombed at 2am; it causes minor damage and no one is hurt. (Muslim News 10.7.05)
  • 8 July 2005: Stones are thrown at a mosque in Totterdown, Bristol. No damage is caused and no one is hurt. (Muslim News 10.7.05)
  • 7 July 2005: Two bottles containing an accelerant are thrown through the windows of a Sikh temple in Belvedere, Kent. The bottles do not ignite. Police arrest five men in the Bexleyheath area two days after the attack. (Greenwich Mercury 13.7.05 )
  • 7 July 2005: An Asian woman from Hayes, Middlesex, reports an attempted arson attack after she finds petrol has been poured through her door. (Independent 11.7.05)
  • 7 July 2005: An Asian family from Southall report an attempted arson attack. (Independent 11.7.05)
  • 7 July 2005: Sha Jalal mosque and the Pakistan Community and Cultural Centre in Edinburgh are daubed in racist graffiti. (Edinburgh Evening News 13.7.05)

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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.


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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