The government has announced more than 100 million pounds will be invested into protecting mosques, Muslim schools and community centres across the UK, after hate attacks are on the rise.
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00:00 A place for worship and peace. Not somewhere you'd expect hatred or abuse. But religious
00:07 communities across Kent have seen a rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Following
00:13 concerns the Israel-Hamas conflict is fuelling this division.
00:17 Today the government has announced £117 million will be invested into tackling hate crime
00:23 towards the Muslim community over the next four years.
00:27 But some fear this won't go far enough.
00:30 This scheme has been up and running since I believe 2022 and we applied for it in 2023
00:37 in July and the application was completed and we haven't received anything yet.
00:43 The way the narrative began with the Prime Minister associating peace protests with extremisms.
00:50 He didn't say the peace protesters were extremists but he related it to that a bit in a way that
00:56 he should not have.
00:57 It follows the Prime Minister's announcement last month of a similar package for Jewish
01:01 communities totalling £70 million over the next four years.
01:06 Religious buildings across the UK will now have an increase in safety measures like CCTV.
01:11 Here at Chatham Memorial Synagogue they've been using CCTV for several months after they
01:16 were subjected to multiple incidents of hate crime.
01:20 On Holocaust Memorial Day the synagogue was victim to two anti-Semitic symbols being spray
01:25 painted on the building.
01:27 As a result they've ramped up their CCTV which seems to have helped.
01:32 I'm delighted to know that other places of worship are receiving that kind of funding
01:37 too.
01:38 We are very active here with the interfaith community and we have very close ties with
01:44 our friends within different Muslim communities particularly and so unfortunately as we see
01:53 currently the rise in anti-Semitism in this country so do we see the rise of Islamophobia
02:00 and both are completely abhorrent to us.
02:02 So anything that helps with that security obviously we're delighted.
02:07 Security Minister and MP for Tunbridge and Moorland Tom Tugendhat has today spoken out
02:11 to say the government stands firmly against hate crimes, abuse, threats or harassment
02:17 against British Muslims.
02:19 And the Home Secretary says anti-Muslim hatred has absolutely no place in our society.
02:24 While religious communities across Kent welcome the funding announced today, they fear more
02:29 needs to be done in stopping hate crime completely.
02:33 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Medway.