Attacks on Muslims increase in Strathclyde after airport attack

Racist crime has increased by almost a third in parts of Scotland since the alleged terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, with incidents including a suspected fire bombing of a mosque and verbal assaults on Asians.

Community and political leaders in Scotland called for calm in the aftermath of the attack on 30 June, in which a blazing Jeep Cherokee packed with gas canisters was driven into the passenger terminal by two men.

Detectives went out of their way to say that the suspects arrested at the scene were not from Scotland's Muslim community. But statistics released this weekend show that the country's Asian community has faced a backlash. Strathclyde Police said it had recorded more than 10 racially-motivated crimes per day since the airport attack. In the 12 days following 1 July there were 142 racist incidents.

Representatives of Scottish Muslims voiced concerns that the figures only represented a proportion of the attacks and that others may have gone unreported. Most of the recorded attacks were verbal assaults, but there have been a number of physical attacks. At least 25 incidents were being linked directly to the airport fire bombing.

Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson, the head of community safety at Strathclyde Police, said: "We will deal robustly with offenders who engage in racist behaviour."

Osama Saeed of the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "We are talking about a small minority behind this and the people of Scotland as a whole reacted with common sense after the attack. But we still need to build bridges and ensure that those responsible [for the attacks] are punished."

Independent