Muslim women in east London 'subjected to physical and verbal abuse following London Bridge attack'

Ash Siddique, secretary of the Al-Madina Mosque in Barking, warned Muslim women have been the target of physical and verbal abuse
PA
Chloe Chaplain7 June 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Muslim women in east London have be spat on, had their throats grabbed and been verbally abused since the London Bridge terror attack, a Muslim leader revealed.

The attacks have been reported to police, according to Ash Siddique, the secretary of the Al-Madina Mosque in Barking.

He said several women had been subjected to physical and verbal abuse as well as threats of violence but added he “would not describe it as a backlash” following the horrific attack at the weekend.

“We've had a number of incidents where ladies coming to the mosque have been attacked,” he said.

"One lady was at the bus stop and she was grabbed around the throat. We've reported that matter to the police.

"We've had a number of ladies who have been verbally abused and a number of ladies who have been spat on.

"We've had a couple of telephone calls, physical threats - 'we are going to attack you' and that sort of thing.

"Perhaps that's to be expected after a major event like this but it's still disconcerting for those individuals involved.

"To be honest with you, it's par for the course of being a Muslim in the UK today."

The Al-Madina Mosque, in Barking, is near to the Jabir Bin Zayd Islamic Centre that London Bridge attacker Khuram Shazad Butt was thought to have once attended.

Mr Siddique said he did not believe Butt had visited Al-Madina Mosque.

He said: "As far as I'm aware, no. To be honest with you, sometimes we have 1,000 people here so he could have come here but as far as we know, I've asked some of my colleagues and the people that work here and nobody seems to recognise him."

Mr Siddique Said he believed the community had blown the whistle on Butt.

He said: "What's emerging is that on three occasions the community highlighted concerns about this individual. He was on tape in a documentary made by Channel 4 several years ago.

"So those concerns I think were in the public domain and highlighted as they should have been.

"The failings were not on the part of the community - the community has done what it is supposed to do."

Mr Siddique said he understood police and security services had an "enormously difficult job" and that terrorists "just need to get lucky once".

Additional reporting from Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in