Names marked with an asterisk have been modified to guard identities.
When Akmal’s* mosque was vandalised final week in Basildon, a city within the English county of Essex, he felt shaken.
“I used to be so harm,” mentioned the 33-year-old electrical engineer, who requested Al Jazeera use a pseudonym. “It was so near dwelling. My native masjid [mosque]. It felt like an actual kick within the enamel.”
The South Essex Islamic Centre in Basildon was defaced shortly earlier than midnight on Thursday. Purple crosses have been daubed throughout its partitions alongside the phrases “Christ is King” and “That is England”.
The timing, the night time earlier than Friday prayers, appeared to many as calculated – an try and intimidate a flurry of worshippers within the southeastern English county.
“My spouse and child are rising up right here,” Akmal informed Al Jazeera. “I need to transfer out of the world. I simply can’t keep right here.”
Group leaders condemned the assault.
Gavin Callaghan, the chief of Basildon Council, described it as “pathetic legal cowardice”.
“Don’t costume it up. Don’t excuse it. It’s scum behaviour, and it shames our city … The cowards who did this shall be caught,” he mentioned. “To do that proper earlier than Friday prayers isn’t any coincidence. That’s focused. That’s intimidation. And it’s legal.”
Wajid Akhter, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, mentioned, “The St George flag is an emblem of England we must always all be pleased with. For it for use on this manner, [which] echoes how Nazis focused Jewish properties, is a shame to our flag and our nation. Silence has allowed hate to develop.”
Essex police are investigating the incident.
Council workers and volunteers labored within the early hours of the morning to take away the graffiti earlier than worshippers arrived, however a way of concern continues to be lingering.
“I used to be shocked,” mentioned Sajid Fani, 43, who lives within the space. “I didn’t anticipate one thing like that to occur right here.”
Native bishops decried the misuse of Christian imagery within the assault. They issued a joint assertion calling the vandalism “scandalous and profoundly misguided”, saying that invoking Christianity to justify racism is “theologically false and morally harmful”.
Racism amid flag-raising marketing campaign
The vandalism passed off amid a tense ambiance in the UK, amid protests in opposition to asylum seekers and a social media marketing campaign dubbed #OperationRaisetheColours.
In current weeks, these heeding the decision have pinned the flag of England bearing Saint George’s Cross and Union Jacks to motorway bridges, lampposts, roundabouts and a few retailers throughout the UK. Purple crosses have been spray-painted on the white stripes of zebra crossings.
In line with the anti-far-right HOPE not hate group, the marketing campaign is led by Andrew Currien, a former member of the Islamophobic English Defence League and now a safety determine for the political get together Britain First, additionally an anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant group.
Whereas some supporters body the venture as patriotic, it has been tied to racist incidents.
Racist graffiti has appeared in a number of different places. Some 300 miles (about 500km) north of Basildon, for instance, xenophobic slurs have been sprayed on buildings in County Durham and Houghton-le-Spring in northern England.
Some have blamed the media’s deal with the difficulty of asylum.
In current months, British tv networks and newspapers have devoted vital protection to asylum seekers, as some social media websites enable hateful content material to proliferate.
Shabna Begum, head of Runnymede Belief, a race equality suppose tank, mentioned the spate of vandalism is a part of a “scary intensification of Islamophobia” pushed by political and media narratives scapegoating Muslim communities.
“The violence being performed out on our streets and the vandalism of mosques is the product of a political and media soundtrack that has relentlessly demonised Muslim communities,” she mentioned. “Whether or not it’s coverage or narratives, we have now been fed a monotonous weight loss program that tells us that our financial issues are brought on by Muslims, migrants and other people looking for asylum.”
She warned that historical past reveals governments that fail to confront financial grievances whereas scapegoating minorities finally collapse.
“The query is how a lot will this betrayal value for the Muslim communities which can be served as political fodder,” she mentioned.
Fani in Basildon mentioned, “It’s the concern issue. They [media channels] put terror within the hearts of individuals in the case of Muslims. I need to present individuals we’re similar to them. We’re simply human.”
Days earlier than the mosque was vandalised, a roundabout reverse was painted with a pink cross.
“I wasn’t offended by England flags being flown,” mentioned Fani. “However that is completely different. It crossed a line.”
Within the wake of the vandalism, mosque leaders inspired worshippers to attend Friday prayers in larger numbers as a present of resilience.
Fani mentioned the turnout was bigger than common: “Alhumdulillah [Thank God], it resulted in additional individuals coming to the mosque, so the result was constructive.”
‘A line between being patriotic and being outright racist’
Maryam*, a Muslim girl who lives in Basildon, lamented the “assault on the Muslim neighborhood” as she emphasised that it displays a darkish local weather.
“There’s a line between being patriotic and being outright racist or Islamophobic – and a few individuals listed below are crossing that line.”
In her view, a wave of protests in opposition to housing asylum seekers at accommodations earlier this summer season has coincided with Islamophobic abuse – notably in Epping, a close-by city the place The Bell Lodge has been the main focus of violent agitation.
Police knowledge is but to verify a hyperlink or rise in racist assaults, however domestically reported incidents inform a troubling story.
Final week, a person in Basildon was arrested after a hijab-wearing girl and her little one have been allegedly racially abused, whereas vandals sprayed St George’s crosses on close by properties.
On the finish of July, residents reported glass projectiles being hurled from the higher flooring of a constructing close to Basildon station, apparently concentrating on Muslim ladies and households of color.
Past the headline incidents, Maryam reeled off a listing of different current examples of racism she has witnessed – a lady of East African origin referred to as a racial slur, a driver mocking a Muslim girl in hijab as a “submit field”.
“Sadly, I’ve [also] been subjected to a variety of Islamophobia in Basildon – typically in entrance of my little one,” she added. “It has affected my psychological well being … it’s created a variety of trauma and limitations to easily residing a standard life.”
Whereas the mosque assault prompted swift consideration from councillors and police, remoted incidents in opposition to people typically go unreported.
“If the police engaged with the neighborhood higher, defined what hate crimes are, how they’re reported, how investigations work, it will take away limitations to reporting,” mentioned Maryam.