Nadine Osman

Islamophobic hate crimes have doubled in Greater Manchester over the last year. Hate crimes targeting Muslims have rocketed from 167 to 328 (96 percent) between November 2014 and October 2015.

Hate crime in general has risen a third, with police partly putting the increase down to increased awareness.

Anti-Semitic attacks have gone up 18 percent – but the bigger rise is in anti-Muslim hate crime.

North West MEP Afzal Khan, a vocal campaigner for the lobby group Hope Not Hate, said: “These attacks play into the hands of the extremists. Their agenda is about division and getting into the heads of young Muslims that they are not welcome here – which is not the case at all.”

The figures have remained constant since the attacks on Paris even though there have been reports of an increase nationally.

Police commissioner Tony Lloyd said there was no room for hate-crime of any kind in Greater Manchester, regardless of the motivation.

He added: “But right now, in the light of what happened in Paris, it’s more important than ever for everyone in Greater Manchester to stand together against hatred.

“There are those who seek to divide, but the ties that bind us are stronger than their hate.”

In January, there was 42 percent increase in race-hate crimes in north Manchester during the first eight months of 2014.