SHAFAQNA-
Some Muslim women suffer hate crime on an almost daily basis and police must make them aware they do not need to accept it, an officer has said.
Avon and Somerset Police said three-quarters of recorded hate crimes towards women in the past two years in Bristol were anti-Muslim.
Supt Andy Bennett said: “It is a crime and you don’t have to put up with it”.
Aaliyah Hussain, founder of campaigning organisation We Rise, said “all women face barriers” when reporting crime.
Supt Bennett and Ms Hussain said some victims got so used to being abused they treated it as normal, racial harassment tended to be carried out by young white men and that some people assumed Muslim women would not be allowed by men to report crimes.
Under-reporting ‘off the charts’
Supt Bennett, Avon and Somerset Police’s hate crime lead, said: “Islamic women in particular are suffering, often almost daily, verbal harassment and persistent name calling and intimidation – and this is the area where we really want to smash it.
“They are normalising this behaviour because it’s part of their everyday life and I want to say ‘the police absolutely don’t want you to put up with this behaviour’.”