"Fascist scum out of Brum." On Saturday, August 17, around 300 demonstrators in the center of the United Kingdom's second-largest city awaited the arrival of far-right activists. None came.

A long list of places and dates, widely shared on social media, promised the arrival of the far-right group the English Defense League (EDL) in the city of Birmingham. But it was just a rumor – like so many other posts since the start of the riots that hit the United Kingdom after a knife attack claimed the lives of three children in Southport, northern England, on July 29, and was falsely attributed to a Muslim migrant.

At the podium, speaker after speaker celebrated a city "proud of its diversity." Just over a quarter of its population (1.15 million) is Muslim, and it also boasts a large community of people of Indian origin, making it a "minority majority" city, in which ethnic minorities combined account for over half the population. Unlike Liverpool, Belfast or Manchester, Birmingham did not see far-right violence in early August. But even here, the Muslim community is anxious about the future.

Ali, who we met outside a central mosque shortly before Friday prayers, said that he was "very worried" when he saw the first images of the riots in Southport. While he asserted that "there are no problems in Birmingham," he also recounted being taken to task by a group of youths because of his skin color while making a delivery in a suburb a few days earlier.

Fear of escalation

The fear is most palpable among women wearing headscarves. Three young women encountered in the city's western suburbs explained that, since the riots, they avoid going out alone and are much more careful in the street, for fear of having their headscarves ripped off or worse – being attacked with acid. No such incidents have been reported recently, but rumors of attacks are still circulating on social media and via WhatsApp.

Beyond concerns for their physical safety, Birmingham's Muslims also fear an escalation. Unsubstantiated rumors of a "raid" on a mosque by far-right thugs on August 5 led to a gathering of men, some wearing masks, in the Bordesley Green area to the east of the city. In the early evening, the situation degenerated: a small group interrupted a live Sky News TV broadcast, then punched a man outside a nearby pub, mistaking him for a far-right activist.

"Idiots," sighs Imran Hameed, founder of Bearded Broz, a local organization that manages multiple charitable and inter-community projects, including a food bank open to all. "Of course, if I'm far-right and I see those images, I think 'Tommy [Robinson, the former head of EDL] is right!' And then innocent men and women get attacked." The day after the attack, members of Bearded Broz and local religious leaders went to apologize, on behalf of the Muslim community, to the pub's landlady. The latter explained that the man who had been hit had in fact provoked the group of young people and was no longer welcome in her establishment.

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