Fears Muslims in Peterborough are not reporting hate crime

An event is being held as part of Islamophobia awareness month

Victims have not reported Islamophobic incidents as they have not realised they were hate crimes, a community leader said.

Abdul Choudhuri, chairman of Joint Mosques Council Peterborough (JMC), said that people have also felt "let down by authorities".

The council, police and residents will meet at Jack Hunt school, Peterborough to talk about "underlying issues".

Cambridgeshire Police said they take hate crimes "very seriously".

"There are real concerns, because people don't understand what Islamophobia is," Mr Choudhuri said.

"That's why we feel people don't report anti-Muslim crime. Often people feel let down by authorities that nothing is being done."

Home Office figures showed that 8,241 religious hate crimes were recorded by police across England and Wales in the year ending March 2023.

Of the cases where religion was recorded, 3,400 (44%) of the victims said they were Muslim.

'We hope to get a law in place'

"Peterborough has a significant Muslim population," Mr Choudhuri said.

"We are hosting this event with the support of all the community groups including the police and the school and hope they can help spread the message and encourage people to come forward and report.

"But at the end, we hope that we can get a law in place for Islamophobia [hate crimes].

Peterborough City Council passed a motion last year and agreed to host an annual Islamophobia awareness event.

A council spokesperson said: "Peterborough is proud of its heritage, the diversity of our city and the many different faith communities living side by side.

"Hate crime of any kind, including Islamophobia, is not tolerated in Peterborough and we are committed to working with communities and partners to challenge and tackle all forms of hate crime."

Cambridgeshire Police recorded 1,443 hate crimes across the county between January and October 2023.

A force spokesperson said: "We work hard to encourage victims to come forward so we can take action against those who choose to discriminate."

The Islamophobia Awareness Event will begin at 17:00 GMT and will feature a range of speakers.

The impact of Islamophobia on Muslims and how to combat it, will be explored.