Hate crime against Muslims triples after Paris massacre

Hate crime against Muslims more than tripled in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, figures from Scotland Yard have shown.

In the week to Tuesday November 10 - three days before the massacre in the French capital - police in London received 24 reports of Islamophobic incidents.

The number almost doubled to 46 in the following seven days to November 17, during which the atrocity in Paris took place.

There was a further rise in the week ending November 24, when the tally reached 76.

The Metropolitan Police said the majority of the reported incidents and crimes related to harassment.

A spokesman for the force said: "It is with regret, but something that we have come to realise, through experience, that hate crime can increase during these difficult times.

"We know Muslim communities in London are feeling anxious and we are providing extra patrols and are speaking regularly with local mosques and community leaders to reassure and address concerns, while closely monitoring the situation."

He added: "We will not tolerate hate crime and no one should suffer in silence. We urge people to report hate crime to us as soon as possible so we can act.

"We have more than 900 specialist officers across London working in our Community Safety Units who are dedicated to investigating hate crime."

Figures released earlier this year showed that the number of hate crimes reported to police in England and Wales has jumped by nearly a fifth.

There were 52,528 such offences in 2014/15 - an increase of 18% compared with the previous year.

More than 80% were classed as race hate crimes, with others involving religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender victims.

Analysis of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) indicated that Muslims are more likely than people from other faith groups to be targeted in religiously-motivated crimes.

Statisticians found that, contrary to reports, there was no "clear spike" in offences around the times of the independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham in August last year, or the Charlie Hebdo terrorist shooting in Paris in January.

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that anti-Muslim hate crimes are to be recorded as a separate category for the first time.

Police figures have also indicated rising levels of anti-Semitic hate crimes in parts of the UK. In London, the number of offences against Jewish people and property more than doubled in a year.