Greater Manchester Mosques have been on high alert this weekend.
Violent scenes following the tragic murder of three young girls in Southport on Monday (July 29) quickly spread across the UK. On Saturday (August 3), they arrived in Manchester.
A demonstration organised under the banner of ‘Enough is Enough’ in the city centre became violent as attendees clashed with counter protesters and police. Fights broke out, a supermarket had to be closed and public transport was brought to a standstill.
Today (August 4), a protest under the same name was held in Bolton. The arrival of around 300 counter protestors sparked chanting between the groups. Missiles were thrown at police and there were several scuffles.
Worse violence has broken out in other parts of England and Northern Ireland. In Rotherham, South Yorkshire, a Holiday Inn housing asylum seekers was stormed and set alight by what Prime Minister Kier Starmer later described as ‘far right thugs’.
For some religious leaders in Manchester, they told the M.E.N it came as ‘no surprise’.
Unrest followed the killing of three young girls in Southport on Monday, with 147 arrests made since Saturday alone.
Prior to 17-year-old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana being charged with murder, rumours spread on social media the crime had been committed by a Muslim illegal immigrant. Despite being debunked, these rumours sowed seeds of anti-Islamic rhetoric. Initial demonstrations saw Southport’s local Mosque attacked.
For Jawad Amin, a community engagement officer at the Cheadle Masjid, the islamophobia was expected. “I’m not that surprised that this is happening,” he told the M.E.N bluntly.
“This is nothing to do with the Southport stabbing, it’s do with years and years of racist and Islamophobic rhetoric from the media and from politicians. What’s shocking is the way it’s happened. It’s happened on the back of a false rumour that a Muslim was involved in the stabbing.
“Even if that was true, the response is shocking. In the past, when something bad happened you would say ‘please Allah, let it not be Muslim’. Now we’ve got to the stage where, even if it isn’t a Muslim, Muslims are still attacked.
“The deep undertones are racist and Islamophobic.”
That undertone has left many in the Muslim community living in ‘fear and disbelief’ according to Amin. When speaking to the MEN, local councillor and member of the Greater Manchester Council of Mosques, Rabnawaz Akbar said that there are fears of Southport ‘copycat attacks’.
“There’s always a fear that whenever something like this happens, it’s natural,” he told the MEN. “I personally have been through this before. In 1974 we the rise of the National Front.
“As a nine-year-old I moved to Blackburn which was the home of the National Front leader. We’ve been here before, the 2011 riots, we’ve had riots in Toxteth, Bristol. It’s not as if this is completely new, but its about how we get through this by addressing some of the issues.
“I think one of the root causes of this is that we’ve had 14 years of authority where the working class people have seen all levels of poverty. That’s no excuse for this but when people are told that immigrants are why they are poor, you can see how they fall for it.
“I think once there was online rumours and speculation that the perpetrator of the heinous crime was a migrant and of the Islamic faith, it was the start of the fear and apprehension amongst local mosques.”
A member of the Greater Manchester Council of Mosques for 15 years, Cllr Akbar has been working closely with religious leaders, councils and GMP to give advice and reassure the communities about how best to keep safe during this turbulent period.
According to Cllr Akbar, GMP released a message to locals that vulnerable locations such as mosques and buildings accommodation asylum seekers were given heightened patrols. Members of the Muslim community were advised not to visit Piccadilly Gardens during the protest ‘unless absolutely necessary’.
Nationally, the Home Office has announced that Mosques will be offered greater protection with new “emergency security” that can be rapidly deployed to respond to violent disorder.
Off the back of the Southport Mosque attack, The British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester released a strong statement condemning the violence and misinformation that lead to the unfortunate events.
Describing the far-right group as ‘thugs’ who used the time of mourning as an opportunity to ‘divide communities.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed rioters would “regret” engaging in “far-right thuggery” after a sixth day of escalating violence in England as the Government announced emergency security for mosques amid the threat of further disorder.
In a televised address to the nation, the Prime Minister condemned an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and promised those involved in unrest would “face the full force of the law”.
Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir suggested that rioters taking to the streets, and those “whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,” would face consequences.
Meanwhile, the Home Office announced mosques would be offered greater protection under a new “rapid response process” designed to quickly tackle the threat of further attacks on places of worship.
The Greater Manchester Muslim Safety Forum also weighed in on the topic, condemning the ‘senseless ‘murder’ in Southport, calling for the Home Secretary to launch an investigation into the attack and criticizing the ‘fake narratives’ used to make the Muslim community a ‘target of hate and Islamophobia’.
“The most vulnerable in our communities are women who wear the hijab or veil, or men who are visibly Muslim and unfortunately Sikhs have been thrown into this.” Said Cllr Akbar.
“But ultimately the message has been, this is a very small minority of mindless, misinformed and misled people and the vast majority of our residents’ value the diversity of our city and the strength that it brings.
“Ultimately, yesterday (Saturday) was a very small minority that are very misinformed and at the moment, clearly misled.”