LONDON: British counterterrorism police are investigating far-right groups accused of using the coronavirus crisis to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment.

Dozens of incidents of far-right groups allegedly trying to blame British Muslims for the spread of the virus were recorded in March by the hate crime-monitoring organization Tell Mama.
It said it had debunked numerous claims made on social media that Muslims were breaching the lockdown by continuing to attend mosques to pray. There were also incidents where Muslims were attacked, it added.
Tommy Robinson, the founder and former leader of the English Defence League, and one of the most prominent far-right figures in the UK, shared a video online that was alleged to show a group of Muslim men leaving a 鈥渟ecret mosque鈥� in inner-city Birmingham. The claims were subsequently dismissed by West Midlands police.
West Yorkshire police similarly dismissed images allegedly showing Muslims attending Friday prayers, pointing out that they were taken before the lockdown was announced.
David Jamieson, the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands, said counterterrorism police were looking into reports that right-wing groups were trying to use the pandemic to create division. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something we are monitoring very closely,鈥� he added.
In one incident reported to Tell Mama, a Muslim woman said she was approached by a man in Croydon, south London, who coughed in her face and claimed he had coronavirus. The incident was reported to the Metropolitan Police.
The woman, who wears a hijab, said she tried to avoid her attacker, but the man turned toward her and 鈥済ot in her face.鈥�
She told him she had already contracted the virus and recovered, and was therefore immune, after which he swore at her and racially abused her before leaving.
The Metropolitan Police acknowledged that coronavirus had played a role in hate crimes in recent weeks, telling Arab News: 鈥淧eople of certain ethnicities and cultural backgrounds have been targeted in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.鈥� The 鈥渄eplorable鈥� incidents, it said, have taken place 鈥渋n the real world and online,鈥� and involved 鈥減hysical violence in a small number of cases.鈥�
Shaista Aziz, a journalist and anti-racism campaigner, told Arab News that the targeting of women in these crimes is 鈥渘o accident.鈥�
She said: 鈥淚n the last few years, we鈥檝e seen a resurgence of the far right in the UK. Their No. 1 rallying call is hatred of Muslims, and a lot of it is gendered Islamophobia: It鈥檚 targeting particularly women who wear the hijab and the niqab.鈥�

She added: 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 unexpected, it鈥檚 horrifying, and it just shows how an international crisis like this pandemic is being further weaponized by people with a warped ideology.鈥�
Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, said: 鈥淭hese extremists are using coronavirus to get their pervasive message across that somehow the Muslim communities are to blame for the spreading of the virus.
鈥淚t is mainly repeat offenders 鈥� individuals who are already known to hold anti-Muslim views 鈥� who are repeatedly seeing this as a way to cause community turmoil and tension. It is at times like this when there are pressures in society that some people manipulate this to fuel hate and division across communities.鈥�
One such example of high-profile far-right figures exploiting the crisis is Katie Hopkins 鈥� notorious for her inflammatory and frequently Islamophobic messaging.
Hopkins shared a video of police in India assaulting Muslims for congregating at a mosque, and tagged Humberside Police.
She wrote: 鈥淚ndian police assisting young 鈥榤en of peace鈥� to disperse from crowded mosque during lockdown. Something to aspire to hey @Humberbeat?鈥�
Dr. Rakib Ehsan, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a British foreign policy think tank, explained why figures such as Hopkins have been so quick to seize on the pandemic in their messaging. 鈥淲hile the concerned many see the COVID-19 pandemic as a devastating global crisis, it鈥檚 being welcomed with open arms by far-right extremists,鈥� he told Arab News.
鈥淚n times of insecurity and anxiety, extremists think this is the time to target an individual group 鈥� people are looking for answers and someone to blame,鈥� he added.
鈥淭he far-right weaponization of COVID-19 poses a serious challenge for public authorities across the Western world.鈥�