BRUSSELS: Fear of Islam led to increased hostilities against Muslims in the European Union after the terrorist attacks on the United States, a new report shows.

The report “Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September, 2001” was released on Thursday by the Vienna-based European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), an official agency of the European Union (EU).

The report records the results of studies carried out in the 15 member states of the EU on aggression against Muslims from September 11 until the end of last year.

The report says “Islamic communities and other vulnerable groups have become targets of increased hostilities since September 11.”

It says: “September 11 brought a greater sense of fear across the EU, where anxieties about the perceived threat from potential internal terrorists and reciprocal attacks in Europe became incorporated into those prejudices that were already identifiably existent in numerous nationally constrained manifestations of ethnic xenophobia.”

The highest rise in attacks on Muslims was reported in Denmark, Britain, Holland and Sweden. But Beate Winkler, director of EMUC, warns against reading into these figures too closely. The four countries reporting the highest number of incidents are those with the most efficient reporting systems, she says. The EMUC is still working on a common system of indicators so that fair comparisons can be made, she says.

Winkler says it was surprising that the “fear factor” became so important within such a short period following the terrorist attacks. But Bob Purkiss, EUMC Chair, says the warning signs were already there. “September 11 merely acted as a detonator of feelings that have failed to be adequately addressed,” he says.

Many far-right and neo-Nazi groups capitalised on this fear, the report says.

The report found that visible traits of Muslims such as the headscarf that many Muslim women wear provoked attacks. “Muslims, especially women, asylum-seekers and others, including those who ‘look’ of Muslim or Arab descent were at times targeted for aggressions,” the report says.

Most recorded attacks did not involve physical violence. In one case in Germany, the Islamic religious community Hessen received daily hate mail and calls, especially against women wearing scarves.

Non-governmental organizations in Spain told researchers that they found the number of violent acts to be low. Spanish reports included racist graffiti on mosques and Muslim shops and incidents between children of Moroccan descent and youngsters in some schools.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.