Muslims in Europe face 'worrying surge' in racism across the continent, survey finds

Muslims across Europe are grappling with a "worrying surge" of racism that is being fuelled in part by "dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric", the European Union's leading rights agency has said, as it published a survey in which nearly half of the Muslim respondents said they had recently experienced discrimination.

- Ashifa Kassam

Published by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) yesterday, the survey of 9,600 Muslims across 13 member states found that racism and discrimination was threaded through most aspects of their lives.

People reported children being bullied in school, inequalities in job opportunities, and prejudice when it comes to renting or buying homes.

Though the survey was completed before the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, and the ferocious reprisals on Gaza, the Vienna-based agency said information from civil society organisations and national authorities suggested the number of anti-Muslim incidents had continued to rise since the conflict erupted.