The announcement comes amid a surge in anti-Muslim incidents since the war began in Gaza in October.
The British government has announced it will spend an additional £117 million ($150 million) to protect Muslim communities.
The new funding, announced on Monday as the Islamic month of Ramadan began, will be used to install security cameras, alarms and fences at mosques, schools of the Islamic faith and other community centres. The move comes amid an increase in hate attacks since the war began in Gaza in October.
“Anti-Muslim hatred has no place in our society. We will not allow events in the Middle East to be used as an excuse to justify mistreatment of British Muslims,” Home Secretary James Cleverley said in a statement. mentioned in.
There are an estimated 4 million Muslims living in the UK. Muslim hate monitoring group Tell MAMA found that online attacks, physical assaults and other forms of targeting increased by 335 percent last month compared to the same period last year.
“The Prime Minister has made it clear that he stands with British Muslims,” Mr Cleverley continued. “That is exactly why we are committed to providing this funding to give Britain’s Muslims reassurance and confidence at a time of critical need.”
Under fire
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has come under fire in recent weeks for failing to condemn inflammatory comments made by fellow Conservatives.
The government is now planning to announce a new official definition of extremism to ensure that groups promoting unacceptable views receive no state funding or support.
Setting out a new definition, Communities Secretary Michael Gove said some of the recent pro-Palestinian marches in central London were organized by “extremist organisations”.
Conservative MP Lee Anderson said in February that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labor leader Keir Starmer were “controlled by Islamists”. Mr Sunak called the comments “unacceptable” and suspended Mr Anderson, but many critics pointed out that the Prime Minister did not specifically condemn the comments as Islamophobic.
Similarly, former home secretary Suela Braverman wrote in an opinion piece in February that “Islamists are bullying Britain into submission”.
Last week, a group of 'terrorist attack' survivors wrote an open letter to British politicians, warning them to stop equating Muslims with 'extremism' and calling such acts 'the height of irresponsibility'. did.
The additional funding for Muslim communities is on top of the £29.4 million ($37.7 million) already budgeted for 2023-2024, which will be disbursed over the next four years. .
In February, Britain announced 54 million pounds ($68 million) in new funding to protect the Jewish community, which has also suffered a surge in hate incidents.
A total of 4,103 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in 2023, almost double the previous year and the highest in decades. Two-thirds of these attacks occurred after October 7, according to the Jewish advisory group Community Security Trust (CST).