Man charged in Edinburgh attack amid fears of rising anti-Muslim hatred

WorldPolitics
22 Jun 2026 • 5:22 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Man charged in Edinburgh attack amid fears of rising anti-Muslim hatred

  • A 36-year-old man has been charged following an incident in Edinburgh on Friday where five people were injured, with four requiring hospital treatment.
  • The attacks, which reportedly began near the Broomhouse Mosque, involved a man appearing to roam streets with a large weapon and battering a pizzeria door, with CCTV showing him swerving a car onto Leith Walk.
  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated the suspect appears to be motivated by "anti-Muslim hatred," a sentiment echoed by Muslim groups like MEND, who urged police to treat it as "Islamophobic, far-right terror."
  • The incident is now being investigated by counter-terror police, with Muslim organisations and politicians, including Humza Yousaf, calling for concerted action against Islamophobia, which they argue has been mainstreamed.
  • Concerns have been raised by groups such as the British Muslim Trust about the normalisation of prejudice creating conditions for violence, urging that anti-Muslim hostility must be confronted before such acts become normalised.

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