The announcement comes amid a pointy rise in anti-Muslim incidents because the begin of the warfare in Gaza in October.
The UK will pump an extra 117 million kilos ($150m) into defending Muslim communities, the federal government mentioned.
The brand new funding, introduced on Monday because the Muslim month of Ramadan started, will probably be used to put in safety cameras, alarms, and fences in mosques, Muslim religion faculties, and different group centres. The transfer comes amid an increase in hate assaults because the begin of the warfare in Gaza in October.
“Anti-Muslim hatred has completely no place in our society. We won’t let occasions within the Center East be used as an excuse to justify abuse in opposition to British Muslims,” House Secretary James Cleverly mentioned in a press release.
An estimated 4 million Muslims dwell within the UK. Inform MAMA, a gaggle monitoring Muslim hate, discovered that on-line assaults, bodily assaults, and different types of focusing on, grew 335 p.c final month in contrast with the identical time within the earlier yr.
“The prime minister has made clear that we stand with Muslims within the UK,” Cleverly continued. “That’s precisely why we have now dedicated to this funding, giving reassurance and confidence to UK Muslims at a time when it’s crucially wanted.”
Below fireplace
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come beneath fireplace in latest weeks for failing to sentence inciting statements coming from his fellow Conservatives.
His authorities is now planning to unveil a brand new official definition of extremism to make sure teams that promote unacceptable views don’t obtain state funding or help.
Communities minister, Michael Gove, who will set out the brand new definition, mentioned some latest pro-Palestinian marches in central London had been organised by “extremist organisations”.
Conservative lawmaker Lee Anderson mentioned in February that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour chief Keir Starmer had been “managed by Islamists”. Though Sunak known as the feedback “unacceptable” and suspended Anderson, many critics level out that the prime minister didn’t particularly condemn the feedback as Islamophobic.
In the identical vein, former House Secretary Suella Braverman wrote in a February opinion piece that “Islamists are bullying Britain into submission”.
Final week, a gaggle of “terror assault” survivors penned an open letter to British politicians, warning them to cease equating Muslims with “extremism” and calling such motion the “peak of irresponsibility”.
The extra fund allocation for the Muslim group is along with an already-budgeted 29.4 million kilos ($37.7m) for 2023 via 2024. The funding will probably be disbursed over the subsequent 4 years.
The UK introduced in February 54 million kilos ($68m) of latest funding to guard Jewish communities, which have additionally suffered a pointy rise in hate incidents.
A complete of 4,103 anti-Semitic incidents had been recorded in 2023, virtually double the quantity the earlier yr and the best in a long time. Two-thirds of those assaults happened after October 7, in accordance with the Jewish advisory physique Neighborhood Safety Belief (CST).
