(BBC) When Zara Mohammed became the first female leader of one of the largest representative bodies for British Muslims in 2021, she already had a lot on her plate: rising Islamophobia, the Covid-19 pandemic, and a government refusing to engage with the group.
The then 29-year-old could not have imagined, three years later, she would be facing one of the biggest challenges of her career — rioting across England and Northern Ireland, often explicitly targeting Muslims, and still no government contact.
The violent unrest, triggered by false rumours that the Southport knife attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker, saw bricks hurled at mosques and Islamophobic chants on the streets.
(Date based on UK time)
