provide data to Tell MAMA. 1,494 incidents were reported in total by Merseyside
Police, Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police Service
(London).50
50. Tell MAMA’s data does not reveal how many incidents involved Muslim
university students or how many took place on university campuses, although
the 468 victims of an ‘offline’ attack are broken down by place of incident which
does include ‘educational institution’. Around 6% of all female victims and 14%
of all male victims were at an educational institution when the incident
occurred. Tell MAMA reports relatively high proportions of male victims in
educational institutions where the majority are under 18 years of age. Therefore,
while it is difficult to assess the scale of the problem specifically for the UK
higher education sector it is likely that some incidents will involve young people
attending university. The findings provide useful insights for universities when
considering both prevention and response. For example, Tell MAMA reports
that anti-Muslim hate is frequently gendered and that women are more likely to
be attacked than men in most settings.51
51. The Tell MAMA data also offers some insights into the patterns of anti-Muslim
incidents which may be helpful to universities in terms of both prevention and
response. For example, the data suggests that within London, incidents
frequently occur in places with high access to public transport and close to major
roads. This type of information can be used when developing prevention
strategies but also underlines the importance of having links with the local
community to fully understand the nature and scale of an issue and to develop
an effective regional response.
52. UUK has attempted to engage with the Federation of Student Islamic Societies
(FOSIS) several times to gain their input, but none has been provided. The
Taskforce has instead focused on the evidence collected by Tell MAMA, as
outlined above.
Hate crime following the EU referendum
53. The result of the UK referendum on membership of the European Union held in
June 2016 coincided with an increase in the number of reported race hate
crimes. The Metropolitan Police – the UK’s largest police force – reported a rise
in the number of incidents, with 599 race hate crimes reported between 24 June
and 2 July 2016. This equates to an average of 67 reports a day, a rise of more
than 50% on the previous average of 44.52 Nationally, figures for the days
immediately following the referendum result suggested a 57% increase in
reported incidents for the same days four weeks earlier.53 Data published by the
National Police Chiefs’ Council in September 2016 showed a 49% rise in
incidents in the last week in July when compared with the same week the
67 incidents, 359 incidents and 1,068 incidents respectively.
Tell MAMA, Annual report 2015, p. 11.
52 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brexit-race-hate-crime-eu-referendum-met-policea7121401.html
53 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/27/sadiq-khan-muslim-council-britain-warningof-post-brexit-racism
50
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