The Government should prioritise tackling Islamophobia rather than just increasing security around mosques, Muslims in Liverpool have said.
Mersey News Live spoke to worshippers at the Al-Ramha Mosque in Toxteth after the Prime Minister announced a £10m increase in funding for the safety of Muslims in the UK earlier this month.
The move, which is in response to a 19% increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the year ending March 2025, is intended to provide CCTV, security fencing, alarm systems and security personnel teams. The proposed increase is an addition to an existing fund of £29.4 million.
Announcing the additional £10m, Sir Kier said: “Britain is a proud and tolerant country. Attacks on any community are attacks on our entire nation and our values. This funding will provide Muslim communities with the protection they need and deserve, allowing them to live in peace and safety.”
However, Muslims who worship at the Al-Ramha Mosque said that they felt the priority should be action to reduce Islamophobia rather than addressing the symptoms of it with more security.
Dr Mohammad Mahyoub, who is originally from Yemen and has lived in Liverpool for 15 years, is the secretary of Liverpool Muslim Society and a Trustee at the mosque. He believes that the Government should spend more time educating the public on the effects of hate crime as well as teaching them why they have negative views on minorities: “I think the government should be doing more against tackling racism within schools, tackling racism on social media that might be a better solution to the problem but instead they are ignoring that and letting it grow.”
Dr Mahyoub added that a lot of the negative views held by people that commit hate crimes derive from misinformation that is spread on social media platforms that don’t regulate the content that is produced on their apps, leading to the spreading of racist rhetorics.
Issa Hamden an international student from Palestine, said: “I don’t think it will solve the problem of Islamophobia at all because the Government is trying to approach it from the wrong perspective. I don’t think putting in new fences and CCTV will prevent future hate crimes on Muslim communities, it will just make it more monitored, it’s not the solution to the root cause of the problem which is where they should be spending their time and money trying to solve it.”
The Al Ramah Mosque received support from the existing fund following the Islamophobic hostility shown during riots in the aftermath of the Southport attack in Summer 2024. A private security team was sent out to the mosque. Dr Mahyoub said: “Contractors came to the mosque and said they have been assigned to provide security for the mosque for several days and demand access to CCTV and access to the building without any clear communication beforehand.” He added: “They spent time patrolling the area and sitting in their cars as well as demanding for people to look after them as well as using the mosque’s utilities then that’s it they were gone.”
The support that they gave wasn’t requested by the mosque nor was it communicated with the mosque beforehand, he claimed. “The real tangible benefit from that for us is almost non-existent.”
