For years, Muslim communities and activists up and down the country have demanded that more be done to tackle Islamophobia, and for years our concerns were dismissed as nothing more than being overly sensitive to criticisms about their faith. Islamophobia was portrayed as a nonsense term: for some it was deemed logical and rational to fear Islam and Muslims, to portray Muslim communities as the “other”, the threat within. After last night’s terrorist attack outside a Finsbury Park mosque in which Muslims leaving Ramadan prayers were mowed down by a van, we saw what can happen when Islamophobia is allowed to go unchecked.

This attack didn’t occur in a vacuum. For years there has been a rise in anti-Islam sentiment. After the London Bridge attack, the London Mayor’s office released a statement that said there had been a 40 per cent increase in racist incidents compared with the same day last year, and a five-fold increase in the number of Islamophobic incidents. Similarly, Muslim leaders reported a worrying rise in Islamophobic incidents following the Manchester attack.

The question must be asked about the Finsbury Park incident, as it would be asked if the attack had been perpetrated by a Muslim: who radicalised this person? …

more:   http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/finsbury-park-mosque-terrorist-attack-london-white-radicalised-islamophobia-attacker-a7797186.html