Things have become uneasy in areas of major British cities that have a high proportion of Muslims. This is not news in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. In the late 1970s, right-wing extremists murdered a young resident with a Muslim background. It was one of many racist attacks that Muslim migrants have faced in this area. Today, however, fear has changed sides.
The conflicts that have emerged in many Western cities since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza have also left their mark on UK’s public spaces. The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Great Britain rose by 147 percent last year, with more than half of all acts investigated by a British-Jewish security initiative in the greater London area. A Muslim citizens’ group that evaluates anti-Muslim incidents counted 2,000 events since the beginning of October, a quarter of them in London, and calculated increases of more than 300 percent.
Now last month the British government published new definitions of extremism in order to impress those groups in the right-wing extremist or Islamist spectrum that could be among the perpetrators of crimes and hostilities. The promotion of ideologies “based on violence, hatred and intolerance” and aimed at “negating and destroying the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” or endangering liberal parliamentary democracy in the kingdom or “wantonly” is now considered extremist to create a permissive environment for others to achieve these goals”.
These formulations do not directly influence the atmosphere in many squares in migrant neighborhoods in Great Britain. A Conservative MP received outraged criticism from the Labor mayor of London after he said parts of such neighborhoods were now “no-go areas” where people could no longer set foot. He explained that it was about areas “in which a small minority of people make life difficult for others because they do not belong to their religion or their culture”. The MP received support from the government’s anti-extremism commissioner, who noted that on some days the whole of London becomes a “no-go zone” for Jews when pro-Palestinian demonstrations with anti-Semitic chants of “From the river to the sea” move through the city.
The state can take more effective action against Muslim extremism, others assert, and also list examples: The Iranian government does not have an inalienable right to run schools and mosques in London, nor is it an unchangeable democratic principle that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have a large number of welfare initiatives. All of these things have become normal in Great Britain. In many places, a “permissive environment for radicalization has already developed” that urgently needs to be changed.
Residents report increasing radicalization. Since last October, the atmosphere in neighborhoods has become much more aggressive, they note. In main streets of such districts, dominated mainly by Muslims with roots in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Pakistani flags quickly appeared after October 7, behind window crosses but also on lampposts and traffic signs. Some hung directly above police surveillance camera mounts.
Not only silent protests are being shown, open violence is now also being carried out. At the end of December, the parish worker at a church in Tower Hamlets was taken to hospital. A man appeared at the door of the community center who initially appeared as if he was looking for help, but then became extremely violent, lashed out and seriously injured the community helper. It remained unclear whether the cross on the employee’s clothing caused the aggression and whether the perpetrator had an Islamist motive. Judging by his clothing, it could have been an Afghan, according to witness statements. Alerting the police emergency number did not result in quick help, just a processing number. The attacked finally escaped to the security guard at the supermarket on the main street. A police officer didn’t show up later either; instead, officials filled out a “hate crime report” on the computer and again the victim received a processing number. If there is graffiti on the church wall, “for example, little red devils with the inscription ‘Allah is watching you'”, then the district’s anti-graffiti unit quickly arrives and cleans the facade again.
Many Christian communities in the district can report harassment. Community sisters of a Brazilian parish were spat on while wearing their regalia. In the Royal London Hospital, the largest hospital in the area, there is an interfaith prayer room where strangers recently desecrated the altar and tabernacle and tore up prayer books. The people on site are particularly annoyed by the discrepancy between these realities and the culturally tolerant Sunday speeches that official bodies always preach. There is an “interreligious forum”, which has no effect, and all sorts of showcase events.
The Tower Hamlets district is governed by L. Rahman, a directly elected mayor of Bengali origin who was expelled from the Labour Party a decade and a half ago on suspicion of electoral fraud and Islamist links. Rahman then ran for mayor as an independent and won. He was later forced to resign due to further irregularities and was barred from political office for several years. In 2022 he returned to the mayor’s office – and brought with him a party he founded, which now holds the majority of the local council seats.
The latest news from Tower Hamlets is that Rahman has ordered the removal of all Palestine flags affixed to public property, such as lampposts or traffic lights. The mayor’s justification included a victim reversal: the flags had been targeted by the media, whose reports contained many false claims and „Islamophobic“ insults. Tower Hamlets, the place with the highest Muslim population in Great Britain, has become a target for attacks.
All publishing rights and copyrights reserved to MENA Research Center.
