Concerns about rising tides of Islamophobia and the threat of far-right terrorism were discussed at a special meeting between the police, an MP and members of the Muslim community last night.

The Police Commissioner Clive Grunshaw, Kate Hollern MP, Cllr Mohammed Khan were joined by Chief Constable Andy Rhodes at the event held at Bangor Community Centre in Blackburn. The discussion was chaired by Councillor Shaukat Hussain.

It came a week after the world commemorated the deaths of 50 Muslims in Christchurch who died following a far-right terrorist attack. It has been revealed that regions in the north accounted for the highest number of initial referrals for right-wing extremism to the government's counter terrorism programme Prevent in the period 2017 and 2018.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Opening the event Cllr Shaukat said, “I think we have come to see anti-Muslim comments as a norm. Ever since 9/11 - 1.3 billion Muslims have been held responsible for that. Ever since then we have been apologising.

“The Muslim community has been bending over backwards to come out and step forward. I don’t think this has not been recognised.

“I have an example of a girl who told me of her going out with her non-Muslim colleagues. They go out together they socialise. But after the recent attacks she was told by one ‘Now, you know how we feel’.”

He added, “The aftermath on social media was also shocking with people saying….’he did good (the attacker) he could have done better’. I couldn’t believe this.”

The effects of negative media coverage of Muslims, the work of local police forces in combatting hate crime and the safety of places of worships were among the issues raised. There was also serious concern how senior politicians in the UK had helped to ‘normalise’ everyway ant-Muslim hatred through ill-informed statements in the hope of scoring quick political points.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Asif Mahmud told the audience, “For far too long now there has been a lack acknowledgement of the far-right and anti-Muslim rhetoric nationally.”

He added, “When the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson can use language such as calling women with veils on ‘letterboxes’ and there is no apology or repercussions then people have a right to be concerned.”

There was criticism of the Prevent strategy in that it focussed too much on Muslims.

Lancashire Telegraph:

An audience member asked why hate crimes were not being taken as seriously as other incident and at times victims were frustrated these were not being investigated thoroughly.

Chief Constable Andy Rhodes was asked about what the police force was doing to combat far-right hate crimes in the region. 

Speaking on the night he said, “In our own county we have had convictions of extreme right-wing offender who targeted one of our MP’s and one of own police officers. So we know the threat is real.

“There is a great amount of work going on in Lancashire to defeat extreme-ring wing threats. Let me reassure you that I know the picture around that threat around this across the country.

“This is being taken very very seriously and there is significant resource allocated to address that risk and we have had numerous convictions.”

Clive Grunshaw admitted that police cuts had an effect on issues relating to hate crime investigations. 

He added, “I have had a number of calls from the local community initially around the attacks in New Zealand.

“With regards to this I think it is really important for you to tell us what you want. We want those ideas.

“We have dedicated hate crime lines run by the Lancashire Council of Mosques."

An audience member raised the issue of whether any terrorist offences had been committed if anyone had downloaded the manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, the 28-year-old Australian charged with Christchurch Terror attack. The possession and distribution is now illegal in New Zealand

There were also calls that the panel and the community send out a united message that against the levels of Islamophobic comments and rhetoric being shared in the mainstream media and much of this had become ‘almost normal’.

Kate Hollern said she has raised the issue of how social media companies were ‘turning a blind eye’ to the content on their forums.

And today, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that far-right extremism poses the biggest security threat to northern England.

Speaking anonymously to BBC News, the former Home Office specialist said, "We've got former mill towns and cities across the north where this ideology, that white people are supposedly superior to everyone else, is growing and becoming more entrenched.

"I've no doubt that there are far-right extremists across the north who are planning to use violence to target Muslim or Jewish communities.

"They'll harbour the ambition to copy what happened in Christchurch.”