School ‘not safe’ for Muslim girls

Three young Muslim girls at the centre of a racist intimidation and bullying controversy have been told by their north Belfast school it is not safe for them to return.

The children, aged under 16, have not been back to the Belfast Model School for Girls since an alleged assault there in November.

A torrent of racist abuse and false allegations have been made in the wake of the incident, including that one or more of the Muslim girls had a knife. There were also calls in the comments for “ethnic cleansing” in the area amid a rise in Islamophobia across the North.

In an attempt to restore calm, school principal Paula Stuart confirmed at the time that “PSNI were onsite to view CCTV and that no knives were involved”.

She described online claims as “inaccurate” and appealed for “support in helping to stop the spread of misinformation”.

A friend of the girls, who was speaking anonymously due to concerns for their own safety, said prior to the incident at the school, they had experienced racial bullying.

“Hitting on the shoulder, calling names, calling them monkey, calling them black, saying they’re here for the money of this country – benefits – and asking them to go back to their country.

“Pulling their hijabs, calling their hijabs ugly, and calling them ugly. They felt very, very isolated. Fearful.”

A brick was thrown through the window of a property close to where the three Muslim girls live.

“They haven’t left their door. It’s just unbelievable, unimaginable for young people like that to be locked in in fear when the rest of the world is going on.”

One of the girls, who has been identified on social media, now wants to change her name.

“They are worried. They’re wondering why there is no protection in place for them,” the friend added.

Daniel Holder, director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, said that some posts on social media had been “toxic” and “racist”.

He said incidents happen at schools all the time, but this particular one was escalated due to misinformation online.

“It’s underpinned by the usual false claims and stereotypes – false claims about gangs, false claims about terror, false claims about knives – and that in itself feeds a climate where minorities are more likely to be victimised, more likely to be targeted, and more likely to be attacked,” he said.

In August, Muslim-owned homes and businesses were targeted by loyalists in highly orchestrated racial violence over the summer. Members of the Muslim community in Belfast city centre have said they have felt abandoned by the inaction of the police and the political establishment in the North.

Abdullah Ali’s Sandy Row home was attacked in July and he was made homeless when he fled his home in fear of a repeated assault.

After her children received repeated racist abuse, Maureen Hamblin recalled her youngest soiling himself when he got close to his school gates and making self-deprecating remarks.

She said this was the boiling point, forcing her to “take her kids’ education into her own hands”.

“My little boy was four at the time, and was saying things like ‘I wish I wasn’t black’ and that he wished he had a white mummy,” she explained.

“My son kept soiling himself anytime we got close to the school, saying he didn’t want to come in.”

The racial hate has become almost continuous with sectarianism. A veteran unionist politician this week warned that “uncontrolled immigration” is boosting Islam and Catholicism and threatening the status of Protestants.

Posting on social media Thursday, John Taylor (‘Lord Kilclooney’) said: “England is already a ‘heathen nation,’ in time the Church of England will be disestablished.

“With uncontrolled immigration the established religion will become Islam or Roman Catholic!”

Urgent Appeal