Hate crimes against Muslims in London have shot up by 70%, figures from the Metropolitan Police said.
They recorded 816 incidences of Islamophobic crimes in the 12 months leading up to July 2015, compared to 478 in the previous period, an increase of 70.7%. Some boroughs reportedly saw more than double the number.
In many cases, women were the primary targets, a group that monitors this sort of crime. They said the total was around 60%.
"We realized that at a street level Muslim women who were visible, and wore the Hijab or the headscarf, were suffering more targeted abuse," Fiyaz Mughal, director of the organization, said.
"We also realized quite early on that women who wear Niqab, the face veil, suffered more aggressive incidents - there was something about the face veil that in a way brought out the worst in the perpetrator."
Merton, in Southwest London, saw an increase in incidents of 262% during the period, from eight in the year up to July 2014 to 29 in the year up to July 2015. Westminster had the most incidents in the latter period; 54 were recorded.
/257
