EU reports post-Sept. 11 racism

The September 11 attacks have increased tensions across Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Anti-Islamic and anti-Jewish incidents have increased across the EU since the September 11 terror attacks and the intensification of the Middle East conflict, a report has concluded.

"In Europe we face not only an increase in Islamophobia, but also in anti-Semitism," said Beate Winkler, director of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.

In its report on the impact of the September attacks on European attitudes toward Muslims, the centre noted "increased hostility and a prolonged upsurge of both verbal and physical attacks."

It said both Muslims and Jews had been victims of hate mail, verbal abuse and physical assaults while cemeteries, mosques and synagogues had been attacked and vandalised.

Muslim women were often targeted, particularly with verbal abuse, because their dress made them more identifiable, the report said.

It listed incidents where women had been insulted, spat upon or had scarves torn from their heads.

Other incidents included headstones uprooted in a Muslim cemetery in Upper Austria, an Afghan cab driver in Britain badly beaten by three men who police said referred to the September 11, and a mosque in Madrid pelted with eggs and painted red, white and blue.

Bob Purkiss, chairman of the Vienna-based centre, said "the Middle East conflict has been used to justify anti-Semitism" leading to "an incredible number" of anti-Jewish incidents.