Islamophobia on social media platforms across the European Union (EU) grew significantly in 2020 after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the European Islamophobia Report 2020.

The recently released report was compiled by Enes Bayrakli, a professor of International Relations at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul, and Professor Farid Hafez who teaches Political Science at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

The report details that physical Islamophobia decreased slightly in 2020 when most countries in the EU were under lockdowns to curb the transmission of the coronavirus but online Islamophobia surged in the same year.

Only 12 percent of Muslims came forward and reported such crimes but the true extent of Islamophobia in the region can only be measured when it will be treated as a separate category of hate crime.

Here is a breakdown of the Islamophobic incidents reported in 2020 in some EU countries.

Austria

Over 800 anti-Muslim crimes were committed in 2020, up from 385 in 2019. A total of 3,215 cases of online hate speech were recorded as compared to 1,822 in 2019. Additionally, 144 out of these 3,215 cases had anti-Muslim content.

Germany

More than 900 physical Islamophobic crimes and 950 cases of online anti-Muslim speech were officially noted besides 18 organized anti-Islam protests.

France

The country registered over 235 anti-Muslim crimes, up from 154 in 2019. Islamophobic protests and threats in France during 2020 increased by 14 percent and 79 percent respectively.

UK

Islamophobic crimes increased by a third as compared to 2019 with the imposition of the first lockdown. It was also observed that Muslim families were four times more vulnerable to hate crimes than Christians./aa