Rampant reports of acid attacks targeting Muslims are being shared online across the British capital this week, with accompanying warnings for “people of Asian appearance” to be vigilant.
This follows an acid attack in east London last week that left an aspiring model and her cousin with life-changing injuries and is now being treated as a hate crime.
But so far, it has not been immediately made clear whether all the incidents detailed on social media have been reported to police as hate crimes.
A local imam was quoted by British press as saying that despite some acid attacks being classed as robberies and targeting non-Muslims, there was still fear among the Muslim community.
“Even my own wife was saying to me yesterday that she didn’t want to leave the house because she might face an acid attack.”
On social media, meanwhile, warnings have included: “Please be careful, especially if you’re brown. These attacks seem to be targeting south Asians or ‘Muslim looking people’.”
On Whatsapp, this message is circulating in London: “There are people posing as delivery men going door to door and throwing ACID on Muslims. Please. Be. Safe.”
According to The Independent, one attack on a man of Asian origin who had a noxious substance squirted at him and his car stolen was being treated as a robbery.
“There were also social media reports of two attacks in East Ham on Friday – one involving a woman being partially burned on her doorstep by someone pretending to be a delivery man, and the other of a woman being targeted by moped-driving acid attackers in the Plashet Grove area,” the newspaper reported.
