Fears, anguish and frustration in a northern UK town hit by racist riots | The Far Right News

Middlesbrough, United Kingdom – In the middle of last year, Shazia Noor Ghani’s phone was ruthless barracks of anxiety, fear and heart crackling.

The mother of three, found herself at the center of a desperate crisis, managing Hotline, who was overwhelmed by the calls of terrified Muslim women in Middlesbroug Clutter stimulate hate.

Val Kosa, who hit various cities and cities, was one of the greatest demonstrations of racist violence in living memory to hit the UK.

At one point in the town of Middlesbrough northern ports, a group of white men set up a makeshift checkpoint, stopping traffic and questioning drivers about their ethnicity, demanding that they know if they are “white” or “English”.

“I didn’t get off the phone for three days,” Ghani recalled, glued her exhaustion with her voice as she experienced those dark days again.

“I just got a non -stop calls from terrified Muslim women looking for advice. It was so traumatic. They didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know where to go.” Are we allowed? Can we get milk? “

Some were the victims of the attack.

“Oh my God. My windows are broken, “one caller shouted, Ghani said.

The founder is Nur Fitness, a community organization in Middlesbrough who offers a safe space for women in color. The initiative is the home of a women’s gym and a series of services, from mental health workshops to supporting victims of family abuse.

As she sat in her office on Friday afternoon, dressed in a long brown cardigan and a suitable scarf, Ghani was thinking about the uncertainty and fear she felt at the time.

Behind it, the walls are lined with screenplane by advertising the events in the community and support services.

“I’m probably one of the most reliable women you will ever come across,” Ghani said. “Nothing abolishes me. But I was afraid to leave my house. “

Muslim women are disproportionately carried by Islamophobia’s head, but they are visibly recognizable as Muslims more likely to be targeted in crimes against Muslim hatred.

“It’s really different when you wear a hijab,” Ghani said. “It is treated completely different.”

In October, Guardian reported that there were 4,971 anti-Muslim attacks and abuse incidents in the previous year, citing MAMA data, monitor Islamophobia.

Shala Khan, a 40-year-old mixed Pakistan and Indian heritage who has lived in Middlesbrough all her life, said that while the riots were suffocated within a few days while the police tightened the suspect, that kind of racism that was released during Turmo did not end .

A few weeks ago, Khan was racially abused as he walked around the city.

“Racism has picked up very badly here,” she told Al Jazeera. “Even after the clutter, the job slowed down for laying down and restaurants. People would come in and say,” Bloody hell, you’re still here. “

She blamed politicians and media that they failed to explore the spread of discriminatory narratives.

The riots were organized by internet agitators who falsely blamed the fictional Muslim immigrant for a deadly stab three young girls in Southport, a city of about 150 km (100 miles) south of Middlesbrouga. But 18-year-old Axel Rudakuban, who killed Baby King, at the age of six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine years and recently was convicted At 52 years in prison, he was neither a Muslim nor an immigrant.

The Middlesbrouga Muslim community suffered tragic consequences of racism before.

In August 1961, the terrified Pakistani families were targeted and forced into white into their homes in the Nerees of Cannon Street, who broke out after 18-year-old, John Joseph Hunt, was killed. The suspect, allegedly appointed Hassan, was charged but later cleaned of murder. In a series of collective penalties that followed the murder, the hooligans were targeting the community of ethnic minorities. The brick was thrown through the Pakistani cafe that mahal.

Fifty years, 2011, Mohammed Zabir, a taxi driver and father for six years, was attacked in a racist attack the night before the Antimuscan Marsh the far right of the English League of Defense. A month later, Zabir died of a heart attack. Until the doctors associated his death with the attack, his loss traumatized the wider Muslim community via Tesside. Nine hundred bereaved attended his funeral.

In the midst of his death, his nephew Amjid Khazir felt forced to get rid of the stress of hatred, leading to violence. He has set a media culture, an organization that develops films and teaches tools for local schools, college and sports clubs to counteract racist narratives. But as social media playing the host of misinformation and division, Khazir knows that he has interrupted his job.

The Government recently promised £ 655,000 ($ 813,000) for community projects in Middlesbrough in response to clutter.

Khazir, however, has regretted what he thinks he holds solutions for plaster.

“We do not have an internal view of the fundamental cause of division and the long -term influence of racist narratives,” he said.

Ghani agreed, adding that the victims needed greater support.

“People don’t even know how to report racism. A lot of asylum seekers don’t even recognize it, “she said.” We try to support local women, but we have limited resources. “

According to the local council, Middlesbrough is the most excellent area of ​​local government in the Tees Valley. The British of the ethnic minority consists of 17.6 percent of the population, identified in the 2021 census – an increase of 51 percent of 2011, and it was predicted to grow further.

Several residents interviewed by Al Jazeera said that Muslims and migrants often blame for the fall of post-industrial cities such as Middlesbrough, which is often ranked in one of England’s brightest cities. Doci and steel industries that once offered stable employment and attracted migration from Ireland and other parts of the UK they have largely demolished.

“The prejudices are mostly manifested in economically deprived areas,” Khazir said.

In some parts of the city, the poverty rates are especially high and there is a lack of social infrastructure – such as parks, youth clubs and safe spaces for social interaction.

When riots broke out last year, some young Muslims in Middlesbrough felt fear and anger.

Many gathered for the defense of local mosques and downtown companies.

“There was a lot of anger,” said Gohar Ihsan, president of the Middlesbrough Central Mosque. “Knowing the experience of their elders who faced racism, the young men said,” We will not tolerate it. “

Then he sent a scary petition. Concerned that the situation could be picked up, he called young Muslims against violence.

“They do all the bad things. We don’t want to be a part of it. Let’s show the world what Muslims really are,” he said.

Ihsan believes that the key to solving Islamophobia is dialogue.

“Our doors are always open,” Al Jazeera said, while the worshipers poured into the central mosque for prayer on Friday.

“We had people who came in with frown and went with a smile. You have to talk to each other and separate myths.”

Ihsan also emphasized the importance of solving material needs.

Since April 2022, the mosque has been running a food bank to help those who have been fighting financially.

“Ninety and nine percent of the recipients are not Muslims,” ​​Ihsan said. “We are more than happy to support them because they are part of our community.”