By Hasan Esen

MADRID (AA): More than 500 Islamophobic incidents were recorded in Spain last year, including against women and children and several mosques, according to a civil society group.

Details of the incidents were documented in the report “Islamophobia in Spain 2017” released Friday by the Citizens’ Platform Against Islamophobia (Plataforma Ciudadana Against Islamophobia- PCI), with two-thirds – about 386 – on the Internet, according to the annual report on Islamophobia presented Friday.

According to the report, a rising trend of prejudice against Islam was noted among various political views in Spain. Street, media and internet campaigns by far-right groups were also recorded, said the report.

The incidents include hostile messages towards the Muslim community by political leaders, attacks on mosques, media campaigns against the opening of new religious centres, as well as aggression and discrimination against Muslim women and the proliferation of hate and fake news with xenophobic messages on social networks.

Out of the 546 Islamophobic incidents, 386 were media and internet-based while 48 percent comprised verbal attacks against Islam and Muslims.

Twenty-one percent of the incidents were against women, 8 percent targeted men, 4 percent were directed against children and 7 percent targeted mosques. There were also attacks against Muslim communities’ businesses and associations.

Of all the Islamophobic incidents documented by PCI in 2017, 51 percent occurred in the northeastern Catalonia region, followed by Andalusia with 22 percent and Valencia with 20 percent.

The report said 7% of incidents were against mosques and religious centres.

Of the regions in Spain, Catalonia had the highest number of incidents of Islamophobia – above all following the jihadist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils – followed by Andalusia and the Valencian Community.

The Plataforma Ciudadana is a national independent association founded in 2011 by the Islamic Cultural Centre of Valencia, the Movement Against Intolerance, and the Junta Islamica, a member of the Council of Victims of Hate Crimes and Discrimination, a pioneering organisation and point of reference in Europe.(ANSAmed).

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Map of Spain. Creative Commons]