E/CN.4/2002/24 page 16 (g) Sweden Verbal and physical attacks 33. As in other countries, there were some violent incidents related to the World Trade Center bombing. In Mölndal, Gothenburg, an Iranian-born taxi driver was assaulted and beaten up by people who called him a “bloody terrorist”; this happened within 24 hours of the bombing. In Södertälje, south of Stockholm, a restaurant owned by a Syrian immigrant who has lived in Sweden for nearly 25 years, was vandalized during the night. Windows were smashed and “Arab terrorist” and a swastika spray painted on the facade. The police claim “Nazis were behind the vandalism”; if so, it is unlikely to have been in an organized form since the Nazi groups have more or less come out in support of the bombing. Also of cause for concern is the fact that some schools have reported incidents suggesting that pupils with an Islamic background have clashed with Swedish pupils (or possibly non-Islamic immigrants in one case). However, such incidents were few in number and isolated. There has certainly been an increase in verbal abuse of Arab immigrants or people of the Islamic faith. The Internet seems to be a focal point for organized anti-Islamic sentiment; various “chat pages” such as the Exile Passage, have been filled with hundreds of statements of the shoot-them-all-and-let-God-sort-them-out type. Here, xenophobia, including both anti-Semitic and anti-Arabic hatred is undisguised. Attitude of the authorities and politicians 34. Several leading politicians, among them the Prime Minister, Göran Persson, have focused on the dangers of anti-Arab racism being fostered as a result of the outrage. (h) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Physical attacks 35. A 28-year-old Afghan minicab driver was assaulted and left paralysed from the neck down by three men who, according to police, referred to the attacks in New York. Another Afghan man was assaulted in Dover and received serious injuries. A 19-year-old Asian woman in Swindon was beaten around the head by two men with a baseball bat, prior to which one was reportedly heard to say “Here’s a Muslim”. In the north-east of England, a 20-year-old Bangladeshi man suffered a broken jaw after being beaten by a gang of youths. “Many Muslims have been spat at and have suffered verbal abuse, particularly women wearing the hijab” according to the London Times (“Racists seek revenge around the world”, 19 September 2001). A mosque was fire-bombed in Bolton when there were 20 people inside. Threats and attacks on property 36. In Birmingham, mosques received abusive telephone calls and excrement through their letter boxes. In Oldham, racist graffiti were daubed on the walls of a mosque. Bricks were thrown at mosques in Belfast, Manchester, London, Southend and Glasgow. An Islamic school in London was forced to close after receiving threatening telephone calls. Bomb threats included one to the Regents Park mosque in central London, which had to be evacuated during Friday prayers.