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Witnesses of UK Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes ‘Refusing to Help’
Al Alarabiya ^ | Monday, 12 October 2015 | Ben Flanagan

Posted on 10/12/2015 5:30:38 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A British Muslim woman doused with alcohol on train; another whose hijab was pulled off before she suffered a hail of kicks and punches; yet another dubbed an “ISIS sympathizer” by a racist assailant who wanted to “blow her face off”.

All are shocking examples of rising Islamophobic attacks in parts of the UK. But these cases are also examples of where onlookers or police refused to act in the face of such incidents, a new report says.

Researchers from Birmingham City and Nottingham Trent universities have found that a “public refusal to help” was common in several hate attacks against UK Muslims, in what they said reflects a worrying broader trend.

Victims of Islamophobic attacks “often receive little support from onlookers”, according to the study, which was commissioned by Tell MAMA, which monitors attacks on Muslims in the UK.

“The public should intervene and assist victims of anti-Muslim hate,” the report noted. “A number of participants spoke about the lack of intervention and assistance from bystanders.”

The report is due to be launched today in the UK Parliament, during National Hate Crime Awareness Week, which runs until 17 October.

It comes at a time of rising attacks in parts of the country, with London’s Metropolitan Police Service in September reporting a 71 percent rise in physical, verbal and online attacks on Muslims in the 12 months to July. Tell MAMA says 60 percent of UK street-based Islamophobic attacks are against women.

‘A simple phone call’ The hijab-wearing woman on the train who had alcohol thrown at her did not receive any support from her fellow passengers, said Imran Awan, Deputy Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University, one of the authors of the report.

“She looked around, and no one was doing anything,” he told Al Arabiya News.

The university researchers also interviewed another Muslim woman who was threatened on public transport in the UK.

“One individual said to us they were on the bus, and a group of people starting saying, ‘look, an ISIS sympathizer, let’s blow her head off’,” said Awan. “She went to the bus driver and he looked the other way, and said, ‘I can’t do anything...’.”

In these two cases, the victims did not necessarily wish for bystanders to intervene physically – but rather wanted them to call the police or provide moral support.

“They didn’t want anyone to intervene and stop what was happening, because it might put them in danger as well. But they just wanted a simple phone call, somebody to say that they’d ring the police or do something,” said Awan.

But a third hate-crime victim interviewed by the researchers found that, when she did report the crime against her, the police did not take it seriously. The woman had her hijab pulled off and was then kicked and punched, according to Awan. “When she went to the police, the officer told her to pull herself together,” he said.

Broader trend? The universities’ report was based on 20 interviews with UK victims of online and offline anti-Muslim hate crime, who had previously reported incidents to Tell MAMA.

Awan acknowledged that was a small sample size, with the study intended to provide a “snapshot” of the impact of anti-Muslim abuse.

There is however wider evidence that suggests that humans are often reluctant to intervene in emergency situations in public, regardless of the race or religion of the victim. The so-called “bystander effect” describes the situation where the presence of other people makes individuals less likely to get involved after witnessing a violent act.

But Awan pointed to another academic study that found a specific problem with bystanders not acting when witnessing hate crimes, something he said was “mirrored” in his own report.

The Leicester Hate Crime project, a study by the University of Leicester, found “many” cases where witnesses could have done more to help victims. The study – which surveyed 1,795 people – included many types of hate crime, including those on religious and race grounds, as well as against disabled people, or according to the clothes someone wears or their sexuality.

“The public should be encouraged to take appropriate action when witnessing hate crimes,” the Leicester report noted.

“Seeing bystanders rushing past, turning a blind eye, or simply observing their victimization without offering to assist directly or indirectly, often contributed to a heightened sense of humiliation and isolation.”

Online abuse The Tell MAMA-commissioned research also details the impact of online abuse against Muslims. One of the interviewees said her picture had been redistributed on Twitter with the caption ‘You Burqa wearing slut’. Another said she had been threatened with violence online, with the perpetrators claiming to have her home address.

Awan said such online abuse was having a negative impact on UK Muslims in the offline world. One women interviewed as part of the study, who had faced abuse online, had started wearing a hat over her hijab because she feared an attack in the ‘real world’, he said.

“People were really worried: If they were sworn at, or called ‘terrorists’ and so forth online, then that would have a real impact offline.”

Fiyaz Mughal, the director of Tell MAMA, called for social media services to do more to crack down on racist abuse online.

“When someone reports in through Twitter, there is no category for reporting racist or prejudiced language,” he wrote in the report.

“[The] structure is set up… only to deal with targeted threats of violence. Yet, we all know that promoting hatred and bigotry does not always involve threats of violence and in these circumstances, companies like Twitter simply shirk their responsibilities by saying that they are meeting legal requirements.”

Twitter representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
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To: nickcarraway
feh...
21 posted on 10/12/2015 5:56:38 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY - Luke, 22:36)
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To: Shimmer1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDnw4Wevxs&authuser=0


22 posted on 10/12/2015 5:59:24 PM PDT by laplata ( Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: nickcarraway

After all the Moslem male female child sex abuse, it’s a wonder the Brits didn’t get their pitchforks, hatchets and shovels and last waste to the entire community of moslems.


23 posted on 10/12/2015 6:06:24 PM PDT by Lopeover (2016 Election is about allegiance to the United States)
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To: Lopeover

Be patient. It’s coming.


24 posted on 10/12/2015 6:07:27 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: Publius

I was beginning to wonder if the Brits had any fight left in them.


25 posted on 10/12/2015 6:11:25 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Lurkinanloomin
World War I killed off their best and brightest as they marched into machine gun fire, and even after a century, they've had a problem recovering from that.

It's sobering to realize that outside of the British military, the traditions of Old England are only carried on by soccer hooligans.

26 posted on 10/12/2015 6:15:20 PM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: nickcarraway

Rottherham rape scandals were FAR worse, and police wouldn’t investigate over 1,400 rapes, over a hundred interracial children born to underaged mothers, fathers arrested for trying to retrieve daughters, girls smeared as sluts by police, all because the police didn’t want to admit the perpetrators were all Pakistani MUSLIMS.

And a larger organized gang engaging in systemic abuse of white girls may have existed in South Yorkshire.

Reference: South Yorkshire Police accused of covering up widespread sexual abuse in Sheffield on a scale ‘bigger than Rotherham’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2992624/South-Yorkshire-Police-accused-covering-widespread-sexual-abuse-Sheffield-scale-bigger-Rotherham.html#ixzz3oPGluAkh


27 posted on 10/12/2015 6:17:43 PM PDT by tbw2
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dont believe a word of this.


28 posted on 10/12/2015 6:18:46 PM PDT by raygunfan
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To: nickcarraway

UK Mooslimbs have said themselves that they want Shariah Law and their own courts and justice system.

Why would a rational Brit make any kind of statement for or against them?


29 posted on 10/12/2015 6:19:05 PM PDT by bakeneko
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To: nickcarraway
The one thing they ALWAYS leave out: Who are the Perps?
For all I know there could be Muslim men attacking Muslim women.
Not wise to intervene then, that's a "hate crime" in itself.
But ... I don't know. They don't say. They never do. I find that suspicious.
For all this alleged anti Muslim hate they claim, I don't know ANY white man who would assault a Muslim woman. He would be branded a major coward by his own kind.

30 posted on 10/12/2015 6:21:55 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: nickcarraway

Hundreds of British children raped by Muslims (who have a different cultural standard) and the media stands by and says, writes and does nothing. A handful of abusive incidents toward Muslims however is worthy of headlines. Might have something to do with bystanders simply standing by.


31 posted on 10/12/2015 6:28:05 PM PDT by gspurlock (http://www.backyardfence.wordpress.com)
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To: nickcarraway

Muzzies don’t act.
So, what is the problem?
If you do not like it, retiurn to your camels.


32 posted on 10/12/2015 6:41:32 PM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: PGR88

DITTO THAT!


33 posted on 10/12/2015 6:45:10 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Obama practices "religion" in the mirror.)
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To: FourPeas

Is taqqiya involved?

Taqqiya says it is not.


34 posted on 10/12/2015 6:45:56 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Using 4th keyboard due to wearing out the "/" and "s" on the previous 3)
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To: nickcarraway

Right or wrong, a human being has the right not to get involved. A government has no right to impel you to act on another’s behalf. Also, the onlookers probably approve for the most part.


35 posted on 10/12/2015 6:47:57 PM PDT by Crucial (Tolerance at the expense of equal treatment is the path to tyranny.)
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To: nickcarraway

Those inbred subhumans can all scurry back to their crap holes of evil they call their homelands. If they didn’t have oil they’d be completely useless.


36 posted on 10/12/2015 6:49:30 PM PDT by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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To: gspurlock
Royals being royals...

From Aga Khan IV

...He is a British business magnate, racehorse owner and breeder, as well as being the 49th and current Imam of Nizari Ismailism, a denomination of Ismailism within Shia Islam consisting of an estimated 5-15 million adherents (under 10% of the world's Shia Muslim population)...

...Since his ascension to the Imamate of Nizari Ismailis in 1957, the Aga Khan has been involved in complex political and economic changes which have affected his Nizari Ismaili followers, including the independence of African countries from colonial rule, expulsion of Asians from Uganda, the independence of Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan from the former Soviet Union and the continuous turmoil in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Aga Khan IV became the first faith leader to address the Joint Session of the Canadian Parliament on February 27, 2014.

... their kinship must count for something of more meaning than loyalty to a people.

37 posted on 10/12/2015 6:50:56 PM PDT by MurrietaMadman (These days, iirc should be taken for granted.)
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To: nickcarraway
“The public should intervene and assist victims of anti-Muslim hate,” the report noted.

If a muslim were on fire, I wouldn't piss on 'em to put 'em out.

Don't care how many beers I'd had, or how bad I had to go, no way would I piss on 'em to put 'em out.

38 posted on 10/12/2015 6:53:46 PM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Secret Agent Man

That’s what I was thinking, could be Muslims attacking other Muslims. Either way, why get involved. No future in it.


39 posted on 10/12/2015 6:55:33 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe because there were no witnesses...because they never happened


40 posted on 10/12/2015 6:57:08 PM PDT by montag813 (Bring Back Tar and Feathers)
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