The British Muslim Trust (BMT) has urged the Home Office to drop its requirement that mosques must prove they have been victims of hate crime before they can apply for protective security funding. The call comes after the government announced up to £40m for security measures such as CCTV, fencing and alarms for mosques, Muslim schools and community centres under the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme.
Akeela Ahmed, chief executive of the BMT, which is the government's official partner in monitoring Islamophobia, said the current criteria left many mosques unprotected. 'The requirement to provide evidence of being targeted is a barrier that doesn't need to be there – a mosque is vulnerable just by virtue of being a mosque,' she said. She added that applications requiring police reports or proof of incidents such as graffiti meant mosques had to be attacked before they could qualify.
The warning follows an incident on Tuesday evening at Manchester Central Mosque, where security staff challenged a man carrying an axe, a knife and a hammer. Greater Manchester Police arrested a man in his 50s on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon, and later a man in his 20s on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. The force said it was working with counter-terrorism officers, although the incident has not been declared terrorist-related.
Ahmed described the incident as evidence of why enhanced security was needed, but said many mosques were missing out because of a backlog and strict evidence rules. 'Some mosques have been waiting up to 18 months,' she said. The BMT reported a nationwide surge in attacks on mosques last year, with 27 incidents between August and October, including arson and an airgun shooting.
Home Office guidance states that applications without strong evidence, such as police reports or graffiti, are 'unlikely to be successful'. It advises that reporting a 'feeling unsafe due to general tensions' is not sufficient. Manchester Rusholme MP Afzal Khan linked Tuesday's incident to far-right scapegoating of Muslims, stressing that security funding was vital.
