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Religious hate crimes up 25% in England and Wales, as cases of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia rise

October 10, 2024 at 12:27 pm

Protesters hold a banner reading ‘No To Islamophobia’ in London, UK on 5 July 2017 [Ray Tan/Anadolu Agency]

Religious hate crimes in England and Wales rose by 25 per cent in the year ending March 2024, primarily driven by an increase in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim offences, official data showed today, according to Reuters.

The Home Office said the number of offences recorded by police as motivated by a person’s religion or perceived religion rose to 10,484 from 8,370 the previous year.

Within that, crimes against those seen to be Jewish more than doubled to 3,282 from 1,543 in the previous year. Crimes against those seen to be Muslim increased to 3,866 from 3,432.

“This increase was driven by a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict,” the government said in its summary of the data.

The overall number of recorded hate crimes fell to 140,561, down five per cent from the previous year. Over two-thirds of hate crimes were racially motivated, in line with previous years, the government said.

READ: Germany reports alarming rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes