Tell MAMA Report Shows 2,963 Anti-Muslim Hate Incidents In The UK In 2018

Tell MAMA, the service that allows people from across England to report any form of Anti-Muslim abuse, have revealed the levels of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate reported to them for 2018. 

Of over 2,000 contacts made with Tell MAMA in 2018, Tell MAMA recorded 1,282 anti-Muslim or Islamophobic reports, of which 1,072 were verified as being classified as such, through secondary evidential sources.

Of these 1,072 cases, 745 occurred at a street level and 327 were online.

In addition, Tell MAMA received reports of 1,891 anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents from 20 police forces in the U.K. which Tell MAMA has data sharing and information agreements with. (These details do not overlap with the Tell MAMA data sets). In total, 2,963 anti-Muslim hate incidents were received in 2018, including both Tell MAMA and police data sets.

Key Findings

Key findings in the report showed that:

• Most Anti-Muslim attacks/incidents took place in public areas (209)
• Incidents which took place within, or targeted the victim’s household or private property, increased by 11% (101 to 113)
• Those occurring in the victim’s place of work have risen by 8% (74 to 80) since the previous year
• The majority of victims were female at 57% (721)
• The majority of known perpetrators were male (73%, 482 of 663), and 61% were white men (404 in 663)
• Verbal abuse (abusive language), accompanied many of the anti-Muslim incidents. TellMAMA analysed the trends in language, finding several themes; terrorism, paedophiles, hatred of foreigners, blame, competition, insulting/derogatory remarks about Islam, and expressions of confidence by the perpetrator that no punishment will follow
• Peak months of reports came in March & August. These spikes coincided with 'Punish A Muslim Day' letters which were sent to many Muslim home and businesses across the country in March; and comments made by former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, in the Sunday Telegraph in August, where he referred to veiled Muslim women as 'ridiculous', 'letterboxes' and 'bank robbers'

The full TellMAMA report can be accessed here. 

In Warwickshire, we encourage everyone to report any and all hate crime and incidents which take place. Islamophobia is not tolerated in this county. It should not be tolerated, and can always be reported.

Call the Police on 101 to report hate crime - dial 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, you can also report non-emergency hate incidents using this website.