Columnist Nadeine Asbali says that protests are getting increasingly sinister and that they're about Islamophobia, not unity or patriotism.
Since the racist riots of recent years, it has become depressingly expected to see our major cities turn into sites of hatred every few weeks It’s a great time to be in the business of making St George’s flags right now, as this weekend once again saw the heart of the nation turn into a sea of white and red .group Collectif Nemesis wore niqabs on stage before stripping them off as the crowd laughed, jeered and chanted ‘take it off’ .
Kellie-Jay Keen, best known for her anti-trans activism, stood on the stage demanding that Islam be taken out of every ‘area of authority’ in the UK, whatever that means. When questioned on video by pro-Israel speaker Weronika Rogowska about what he’d do as Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson’s first answer was, ‘I’d stop Islam’.
Having spent one too many hours watching video interviews from recent rallies, including yesterday’s, it is painfully clear that the views of many attendees who hide their reasoning behind innocuous phrases likeIt feels like what visible Muslims like me have been living, and saying, for years has reached a tipping point The way rallies like these have long been presented by sections of the media and some politicians is either as outpourings of harmless patriotism at best or the valid concerns of overlooked citizens at worst. We have been coached to see them as healthy, if perhaps mildly controversial, instances of democracy in action.
We’ve seen the odd attempt to present a Nakba Day protest held on the same day as some sort of opposition to the far right rally; as though these are groups with opposing sides of the same argument. We have been coached to see protests as healthy, if perhaps mildly controversial, instances of democracy in action What we saw this weekend wasn’t an exercise in unity or patriotism – and it wasn’t a mere disagreement between ‘rival’ groups.
It feels like the veneer has slipped away entirely, and the quiet parts aren’t just being said out loud – they’re now being shouted through a mega It feels like what visible Muslims like me have been living, and saying, for years has reached a tipping point.about as boring and uncreative as ‘ban the burqa’ is enough to revive the political career of even the most irrelevant politician.their way of life to the UK or sheer misinformation like churches being turned en masse into mosques is enough to establish the most forgettable minister as Saint George reincarnate.
It’s no wonder that mass gatherings of anti-Muslim hate like this weekend’s are brushed off as mere ‘division’ when they are the logical end result of years – decades, even – of the manufacturing, embedding and then normalisation of Islamophobia in public life. This level of widespread, overt, uncontainable hatred is no freak accident London's BT Tower to get major transformation into a hotel after £275,000,000 saleIt comes from years of Muslims being the ultimate scapegoat by structural inequality enabled by a generation of white men in suits.
But the message was the same. And it was terrifying. Chelsea DickensonI managed a £100 trip in 2026 – even my 'holiday snob' partner liked itMystery Escape
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