Incidents of anti-Muslim hate are soaring to record levels in London, with a six-fold increase in the last five years.
Last year saw the highest number of annual reported incidents in London on record, at 1,909. The figure for the whole of 2026 is expected to be even higher, having already reached 1,031 by the end of June, according to the British Muslim helpline Tell Mama.
The number of such incidents more than doubled from 313 reported in 2021 to 818 in 2022 and has been rising since.
The helpline, which served as the government’s reporting service for 15 years, is calling on the Metropolitan and City of London police forces to strengthen their recording and prosecution of these crimes.
Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, said the sustained increase showed that the crisis was not temporary and could continue to worsen.
She called for a “no-nonsense response” from the government and law enforcement. “Behind every one of these figures is a Londoner who was made to feel unsafe simply because of their faith,” she said.
The figures highlighted the “urgent need for robust counter-extremism strategies rather than political platitudes”, she added.
“This is not a temporary blip, it is a sustained escalation of anti-Muslim hate, and it demands a sustained and uncompromising no-nonsense response from our public institutions.”
Victims have experienced street-based aggression, xenophobic rhetoric, public harassment and intimidation during prayers, in addition to attacks on Islamic institutions and centres by far-right groups.
Far-right attacks foiled
The number of reported incidents coincides with a growth in far-right plots or planned attacks on mosques in London and elsewhere in the UK.
Last month, a 14 year-old boy was charged with offences linked to “extreme right-wing terrorism” for planning an attack on two London mosques.
This came days after 12 people were arrested over a suspected threat to an Islamic festival in Suffolk, eastern England, and another man was arrested for assault outside a mosque in the East London neighbourhood of Leyton.
Most of the reported crime occurs in the borough of Westminster, a convergence point for people travelling for work.
Tell Mama also urged social media platforms and public bodies to take stronger action against online abuse.
Fixation with violence
The findings come as the UK seeks a solution to the rise in the number of children being radicalised online after watching harmful content that glorifies violence.
At least 71 per cent of children referred to the UK's Prevent anti-terrorism programme had become fixated with violence and developed extremist behaviour but without a clear ideology, a report by the Children's Commissioner for England found.
Referrals to Prevent involving children have risen in the past decade, from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25. But these referrals are taken forward by the programme only if the child is found to identify with an extremist ideology. Nearly four in five referrals involving children (79 per cent) are closed without progressing through the Prevent programme.
Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner, said she feared the current process “risks missing opportunities” and called for reform.
“It is clear that we have a cohort of children becoming intoxicated by extremism, radicalisation, or a desire to harm others, who need interventions that Prevent is not able to provide,” she wrote in her report.
This group might frequently talk about weapons, idolise “famous” attackers, or share videos of violence, such as beheadings, according to the report.
