Jeremy Corbyn has said women in Islington’s Islamic community must work with the Metropolitan Police to ‘eliminate hate crime’, but Muslims in the borough say the Met are yet to earn their trust.
The Labour leader was speaking at the Islington Hate Crime and Islamophobia meeting at Finsbury Park Mosque on Friday 4 March, where he chaired a panel including mosque chairman Mohammed Kozbar and Islington Council members.
The meeting was convened to hear community concerns about Islamophobic incidents in the area going unreported and unpunished.
Addressing the predominantly female audience, Mr Corbyn said: “These are issues for police, for TfL, for the council and for elected representatives like me.”
Mr Corbyn told Islington Now: “I’m very proud to be the MP for Finsbury Park, but we’ve had some disturbing hate crime incidents on public transport and the streets, which need to be reported.
“I’ve met a number of the victims, many of whom are women. I have raised these matters with the police and Transport for London. I thought the best thing to do was get a forum together today to address these concerns head on.
“Some women were telling me they were frightened of leaving their homes. That is unacceptable anywhere, any place. We have come together to make the declaration that we will eliminate hate crime.”
The meeting was provoked by a spate of Islamophobic incidents in Islington. In November 2015 an arson attempt on Finsbury Park Mosque failed when a canister of petrol thrown onto the grounds failed to ignite.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of being verbally abused while travelling on a bus: “They insulted me in front of my daughter because I choose to wear a hijab. When I went to the police they could do nothing about it.”
Mr Kozbar said: “Some women feel a lack of faith in the police because, in the past, they reported incidents and nothing happened.
“If the police want to convince the community that they are here for their safety they must capture the suspects and bring them to justice.”
Councillor Paul Convery met with members of the community after the forum to hear concerns. He said: “The police want community reports but the community isn’t confident the reports will result in anything. We have to break out of that vicious cycle.
“There isn’t a great deal of evidence that suggests these things are getting investigated, solved and prosecuted.”
Community PC Haitham Darrat was also at the event. “In the female Muslim community, there is a reluctance to report crime to police,” he said.
“We are here for them to report any issue to us. It may not always be possible outcome [to] catch the suspect but we need to make sure it’s recorded.”
