Barcelona Muslim community rallies against ISIS amid fear of Islamophobic reprisals

At least 14 people were killed in the twin terror attacks, after a van was driven into the crowd on the busy street of Las Ramblas in central Barcelona and a car rammed into people in the seaside town of Cambrils, killing one, later that evening.

The attack has lead to fears among the mainstream Muslim community that they will face reprisals and an anti-Islam backlash in the city.

Although the presence of the far-right in Spain remains small compared with other European countries, there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of reported hate crimes against Muslims, according to campaign group the Citizens’ Platform Against Islamophobia.

An editorial in a right-wing newspaper, La Razon, claimed Catalonia was “a nest of radical Salafism” and claimed Qatar businessmen were “funding indoctrination” in the region’s mosques.

Meanwhile mosques across Spain are reportedly being targeted by racist graffiti.

One mosque in Seville in the south of the country was dabbed with graffiti which threatened to behead Muslims with machetes and said “Killers you’re going to pay”.

In a similar incident, another mosque was attacked by flares in a gang in Granada.  

The right-wing group thought to be behind the attacks, Hogar Social, has been accused of carrying out the attacks and were reportedly driven away by police officers, the Daily Mail reported.


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