Medway Mosque fearful of increasing levels of Islamophobia

KentOnline / KMTV

The government has announced more than 100 million pounds will be invested into protecting mosques, Muslim schools and community centres across the UK, after hate attacks are on the rise.

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00:00 A place for worship and peace. Not somewhere you'd expect hatred or abuse. But religious

00:07 communities across Kent have seen a rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Following

00:13 concerns the Israel-Hamas conflict is fuelling this division.

00:17 Today the government has announced £117 million will be invested into tackling hate crime

00:23 towards the Muslim community over the next four years.

00:27 But some fear this won't go far enough.

00:30 This scheme has been up and running since I believe 2022 and we applied for it in 2023

00:37 in July and the application was completed and we haven't received anything yet.

00:43 The way the narrative began with the Prime Minister associating peace protests with extremisms.

00:50 He didn't say the peace protesters were extremists but he related it to that a bit in a way that

00:56 he should not have.

00:57 It follows the Prime Minister's announcement last month of a similar package for Jewish

01:01 communities totalling £70 million over the next four years.

01:06 Religious buildings across the UK will now have an increase in safety measures like CCTV.

01:11 Here at Chatham Memorial Synagogue they've been using CCTV for several months after they

01:16 were subjected to multiple incidents of hate crime.

01:20 On Holocaust Memorial Day the synagogue was victim to two anti-Semitic symbols being spray

01:25 painted on the building.

01:27 As a result they've ramped up their CCTV which seems to have helped.

01:32 I'm delighted to know that other places of worship are receiving that kind of funding

01:37 too.

01:38 We are very active here with the interfaith community and we have very close ties with

01:44 our friends within different Muslim communities particularly and so unfortunately as we see

01:53 currently the rise in anti-Semitism in this country so do we see the rise of Islamophobia

02:00 and both are completely abhorrent to us.

02:02 So anything that helps with that security obviously we're delighted.

02:07 Security Minister and MP for Tunbridge and Moorland Tom Tugendhat has today spoken out

02:11 to say the government stands firmly against hate crimes, abuse, threats or harassment

02:17 against British Muslims.

02:19 And the Home Secretary says anti-Muslim hatred has absolutely no place in our society.

02:24 While religious communities across Kent welcome the funding announced today, they fear more

02:29 needs to be done in stopping hate crime completely.

02:33 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Medway.

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