Bristol, UK, October 26, 2007 – A Somali resident forced out of a Bristol council estate has branded her experience in the area as Islamophobic.

A total of 14 households, twelve of them Somali, are being moved out of Bristol council estate due to targeted attacks by local residents. A further two Asian households have also asked to move elsewhere. Incidents have included scarves being pulled off and verbal abuse, targeted burglary, the smashing of car windows, vandalism, graffiti and in one case, arson.

One resident, Aisha, (not her real name) told The Muslim News that life was made unbearable in the area. “Most of the Somali women wear the hijab around the estate. I know two women in the area who had their scarves pulled off.

“My cousin and I have to listen to teenagers screaming ‘terrorist’ at us when we walk down the shops. It’s only the cars of Somali families that get smashed; the kids who do it don’t try to cover their face,” she said.

Despite Aisha’s accusations, Bristol City Council has refused to label the attacks in the Hillfields area as Islamophobic.

A spokesman for the Council said, “There have been a series of incidents over the course of recent months directed at Somali residents in the Hillfields area of Bristol which have included verbal and physical abuse, the most serious of involved the stabbing of a Somali woman in the leg earlier in the summer.

“These actions were carried out in the main, but not exclusively, by white local youths under 18.”

Speaking to The Muslim News Deputy Leader and Executive member for Care and Communities, Peter Hammond, said, “Bristol City Council condemns the action of a small minority of the local community responsible for the harassment, abuse and violence experienced by Somali residents. There is no excuse whatsoever for the criminal behavior which has occurred and it will not be tolerated.”

Hammond insisted the same anti-social youths had targeted the wider community, “The abuse and harassment directed at the Somali community over and above the anti-social behavior experienced by the whole community has been racist in nature but is not deemed to be directed against their religion per se.”

But Aisha, who was subjected to almost 18 months of attacks, disagrees, “They target us because we are Muslim not because we are black. Why would they try to pull our headscarves off? Why would they shout terrorist at a random black person? If it is (about) race why haven’t as many Asians or Afro-Caribbean’s been through what we went through in other estates?”

Nura Aabe, who is part of the Bristol Somali Women’s Group, said, “We feel very lonely and isolated and the fact that you have to stay inside to be safe. It’s really difficult because at the end of the day you suffer alone and nobody else knows what you go through on a daily basis.”

The Council said it was seeking Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBO’s) against five people and have demoted a further four tenancies, or have served them a final eviction warning, “where the households includes an identified perpetrator of criminal and/or racist behavior.”

Aisha remains skeptical about the Councils efforts, “They (assailants) don’t care if they get caught because they know they will only get hit with an Anti-Social Behavior Orders (ASBO) and they wear them like a badge of honor.”

She added, “When there were riots in Oldham years ago, Muslim youths got such heavy sentences for throwing stones. When the Muslim community is subjected to months of grief their attackers are given a slap in the wrist and endless warnings.”

-- By Merat Tafreshi and Elham Asaad Buaras -

Source: Muslim news