Religious and race hate crimes on rise in England and Wales

London: Hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales were on the rise in the year ending March this year, with religiously aggravated and racially motivated incidents registering a spike in the latest statistics released by the UK Home Office on Thursday.

There were 115,990 hate crimes logged by police forces in both regions, a 2 per cent increase compared with the previous year, with race hate offences accounting for the majority at 71 per cent or 82,490 offences, followed by religious hate at 7,164 offences.

Within these figures, anti-Muslim hate crimes were at a record high of 4,478 offences (45 per cent), followed by 2,873 (29 per cent) anti-Jewish crimes, 502 anti-Christian hate offences (5 per cent), 259 (3 per cent) anti-Sikh and 182 (2 per cent) anti-Hindu hate crimes.

“Today’s hate crime statistics show that too many people are living in fear because of who they are, what they believe, or where they come from,” said UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

“Jewish and Muslim communities continue to experience unacceptable levels of often violent hate crime, and I will not tolerate British people being targeted simply because of their religion, race, or identity,” she said.

The British Muslim minister said police patrols have been increased at synagogues and mosques around the UK following last week’s terror attack at a Manchester synagogue by an ISIS-inspired Islamist extremist suspect, who was shot dead by armed police officers.

“I am working closely with faith leaders, providing 50 million pounds to keep places of worship safe and make sure they remain sanctuaries, not targets of hatred.

We stand with every community facing these attacks and will ensure those who commit hate crimes face the full force of the law,” added Mahmood.

The Home Office pointed to a “clear spike” in religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims in August last year, following the murder of schoolgirls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, north-west England, and the subsequent misinformation around the UK-born attacker’s motivations and immigration status.

The number of religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people fell by 18 per cent, from 2,093 to 1,715 offences, but the Home Office cautions that these figures exclude the data from the Metropolitan Police – which recorded a major chunk of all religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people.