Successful prosecution in Rugby
A 56-year old defendant from Rugby has been sentenced for racially abusing two people including a police officer.
Read more...The Police are investigating after a woman twice threatened to stab a young teenage Muslim girl for wearing the hijab.
The incidents occurred in East London within a week of each other in early May 2019.
Tell MAMA reported that they were unable to reveal the exact location of the incident to protect the identities of those affected.
One of the threatening statements included: “You f*cking b*tch, I’m going to stab you for wearing that headscarf”.
TellMAMA reported that based on their 2017 figures, over half of the Muslim women (53 per cent, n=353) wore clothing that identified their Islamic faith (where data was available, n=669). Tell MAMA also verified 57 reports of threatening behaviour in 2017, accounting for almost one in ten reports.
During the interim reporting period in the first half of 2018, Tell MAMA verified reports which showed that over half reports involved incidents where Muslim women were the target.
Police enquiries remain ongoing. The Metropolitan Police recorded 116 Islamophobic hate crimes in May 2019, a slight decrease from the 130 reports in the same reporting period a year earlier.
March 2019 saw the sharpest rise in reports to both Tell MAMA and the Metropolitan Police following a far-right terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand which left 51 Muslims dead.
In Warwickshire, race and religious hate crimes also spiked during the same period following reports made to Warwickshire Police and the Equality and Inclusion Partnership (EQuIP).
Religious hate crime has occured in all five districts/boroughs in Warwickshire, so people need to be mindful that although it is rare in some parts of the county, people are sometimes targetted because of the way they dress which is often connected to their religion and/or culture.
Girls and women tend to be more vulnerable, but men are sometimes targetted too.
EQuIP, an independant charity in Warwickshire, support victims of racially motivated hate crime and they feel no person should have to tollerate hate related crime.
EQuIP strongly encourage any person that experineces or witnesses any form of hate crime, to come forward and report.
There are various ways to report depending on how much information people wish to give. You can ring the Police by calling 101 in a non-emergency situation, but always call 999 in an emergency.
In Warwickshire, some people do not wish to contact the police directly, so they can report hate crimes/incidents to EQuIP, who will protect a persons identity and not pass on any details of the report without prior consent.
Reports to EQuIP can be made online via the www.reporthatenow.com website, you can send an email: advice@equipequality.org.uk, or for those that prefer to speak to someone in person, you can contact telephone EQuIP on 01788 863117 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm).