UK allocates $150M to boost security at Muslim institutions, schools

The UK government has said that it would provide £117 million ($150 million) to bolster security at mosques and other Muslim sites including schools and community centres across the country over the next four years.

The pledge by the Home Office comes on Sunday amid a surge in anti-Muslim hate incidents in the UK since the outbreak of Israel's brutal war on Gaza last October.

"Anti-Muslim hatred has absolutely no place in our society," Home Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

"We will not let events in the Middle East be used as an excuse to justify abuse against British Muslims."

The security measures will include technology such as CCTV, alarm systems and perimeter fencing.

A further £31 million will also be made available to ensure the protection of democratic processes and institutions in response to growing extremist threats.

Hate crimes against Muslims

Tell MAMA, a group monitoring hate crimes against the Muslim community, said last month that it had recorded 2,010 hate incidents in the four months since October 7.

It was the largest recorded number of cases in a four-month period, the group said, and up from 600 incidents over the same period in 2022-2023, a rise of 335 percent.

They included abusive behaviour, threats, assaults, vandalism, discrimination, hate speech and anti-Muslim literature.

Of the total number, Tell MAMA said 1,109 of the reported incidents occurred online.

Women were the target in 65 percent of cases, the group added.

A Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust (CST), has also reported a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain after October 7.

In February, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to provide more than £70 million over the next four years to protect Jewish community sites.