According to an annual report published by Tell Mama, Boris Johnson’s comments on women wearing the veil has led to a surge in anti-Muslim attacks and incidents of abuse.
In its annual report Normalising Hatred the group has laid the onus of the increasing anti-Muslim attacks on two events- 'Punish a Muslim day' and Boris Johnson's column in Telegraph last year where he had referred to veiled Muslim women as “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.
In the week following that article, Tell Mama said anti-Muslim incidents increased by 375% – from eight incidents the previous week, to 38 in the following. Of the 38 anti-Muslim hate incidents, 22 were directed at Muslim women who wore the niqab, or face veil.
Johnson was subsequently investigated over the comments by an independent panel and was cleared of breaking the Conservative party's code of conduct. The investigation into whether he broke party rules was triggered automatically after the receipt of a number of complaints over the column.
In total Tell Mama recorded 1,072 verified anti-Muslim or Islamophobic reports. Of the 1,072 cases, 745 occurred at a street level and 327 were online.
