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Muslim communities across Britain are coming under sustained attacks and intimidation by extremist groups such as the English Defence League (EDL), whose members staged a noisy protest outside No. 10 Downing Street and attacked police officers outside the Prime Minister’s office building.
The Tell Mama hotline for recording Islamophobic incidents said 193 incidents had been reported by Monday evening, of which 10 were attacks on mosques. Before the soldier’s murder, which occurred in broad daylight, the service recorded an average of three or four incidents a day.
In Grimsby on Tuesday, two men reported to be former soldiers were remanded in custody at the town’s magistrates court after a mosque was petrol bombed. Stuart Harness, 33, and Gavin Humphries, 37, were charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
The Tell Mama coordinator, Fiyaz Mughal, from Faith Matters, said he feared there would be an escalation in attacks on Muslim communities.
“These things are cumulative and I do not see an end to this cycle of violence,” said Mughal.
“There is an underlying Islamophobia in our society and the horrendous events in Woolwich have brought this to the fore and inflamed the situation.”
A 50-year-old man who was arrested in Welling, south-east London, on Monday on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, in connection with the death of Rigby, has been bailed, the Metropolitan police said.
