Eid al-Fitr prayer cancelled in Southampton over racial tensions
The Eid al-Fitr prayer has been cancelled in Southampton, England, over security concerns following rising racial tensions across the Britain after the Brexit vote.
Some 2,000 Muslims were expected to gather in East Park to attend the Muslim prayer event later this week to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The first day of the month of Shawwal on the lunar calendar is called Eid al-Fitr, which is marked when the first crescent of the new moon is sighted. During the Eid, Muslims attend communal prayers, listen to sermons and give Zakat al-Fitr or donations to the poor.
The British Bangladesh Cultural Academy (BBCA) cancelled the event after far-right groups threatened to hold a demonstration in the city to call for an end to mass immigration.
The far-right groups said they will march under the banner of “Refugees Not Welcome.”
Shere Sattar from the BBCA said "we have decided it would be best if we cancel the huge gathering considering the political situation and unrest in the UK after leaving the EU and the rise of racist activity and comments around the other cities."
The decision came as the UK’s National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) said hate crime rates in the United Kingdom have surged five-fold following the Brexit vote.
The NPCC said it has registered a staggering 500-percent increase in hate crime incidents, with over 330 cases compared to the weekly average of 63, and that most cases were related to anti-immigrant abuses.
In a shocking report, the Muslim Council of Britain said that over one weekend last month, it had recorded some 100 hate crimes against Muslims and their mosques across the UK.
On June 23, 52 percent of British voters partaking in an EU referendum voted to leave the 28-member bloc. The vote sent shock waves through the political and economic sectors of both the UK and Europe and led far-right and anti-immigration activists to carry out racist attacks against immigrants and Muslims.
According to statistics by Metropolitan Police, Muslims in London faced a 70 percent increase in Islamophobic attacks in one year.
A total of 816 hate crimes against Muslims have been recorded in the 12 months to July 2015. The number stood at 478 over the same period in 2013-14.
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