Anti-Muslim backlash avoided in wake of attacks

Swift co-ordinated action by the British government along with police and Muslim leaders avoided an anti-Muslim backlash after the deadly July London bombings, says a report published by the European Union’s anti-racism monitoring centre.

The report, to be released tomorrow at the European Parliament in Brussels, by the Vienna-based European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, said the co-ordinated action was able to keep in check retribution attacks against Muslims both in Britain and other EU states across the 25-nation bloc.

The report, which drew its information from national anti-racist surveys, did find that there was a “short-term disturbing upsurge in anti-Muslim incidents in the immediate aftermath of the bombings".

It said such racist incidents were “sporadic and isolated,” and occurred mostly in Britain.