A fire has raced through a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, destroying hundreds of homes, officials said.

No casualties were reported, but the UNHCR said more than 550 homes sheltering about 3,500 people as well as 150 shops were totally or partially destroyed in the fire.

The fire broke out early on Thursday in Nayapara Camp in the Cox’s Bazar district, where more than a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are staying. Nayapara is an old camp that was started decades ago.

Mohammed Shamsud Douza, a senior refugee official, said firefighters took two hours to bring the blaze under control.

No serious injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire was not immediately known.

A video showed many refugees searching through charred corrugated iron sheets for valuables.

“This is another devastating blow for the Rohingya people who have endured unspeakable hardship for years,” Save the Children’s country director in Bangladesh, Onno van Manen, said in a statement.

“Today’s devastating fire will have robbed many families of what little shelter and dignity was left to them.”

About 700,000 Rohingya fled to the camps in Cox’s Bazar after August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown on the Muslim group following an attack by insurgents.

The crackdown included rapes, killings and the torching of thousands of homes, and was termed ethnic cleansing by global rights groups and the UN.

Read more: First Rohingya refugees arrive at isolated Bangladesh island

Rohingya Muslims drown whilst escaping fighting in Myanmar

Hundreds of thousands of revellers attending London’s annual Notting Hill Carnival fell silent for 72 seconds on Monday to honour the 72 people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire last year.

Musicians dressed in vibrant colours set down their instruments in a mark of respect and sound systems that had been booming out Caribbean and other music were briefly turned off.

The fire, Britain’s deadliest on domestic premises since World War Two, swept through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London in the early hours of June 14, 2017.

It is now the subject of a public inquiry and a separate police investigation that could result in criminal charges. The tragedy has come to symbolise a yawning gap between the haves and have-nots in modern Britain.

Although the tower block was located in one of the wealthiest areas of Britain, it housed many poorer people, some from ethnic minorities, and raised difficult questions about social housing, building regulations and fire safety rules.

The Notting Hill Carnival, whose route passes near the site of the fire, is a symbol of interracial tolerance which dates back to the 1960s and celebrates the Afro-Caribbean community.

Why Facebook must do more to challenge anti-Muslim hate posts, by Rima Amin

“Love for All, Hatred for None” is the motto carried by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. A motto that has been tested in recent days after a surge of hateful comments towards Muslims on social media following a fire at the Baitul Futuh mosque last Friday.

Seventy firefighters worked hard throughout the day to control and extinguish fire at the mosque in South-West London known to be one of the largest in Western Europe. Many parts of the mosque remained unharmed. On Sunday, two arrests were made but since then the Met Police have said they do not believe this to be a hate crime. A 16-year-old was later released without charge as a 14-year-old received bail until January.

The investigation continues.

As news began to trend across social media, hurtful and hateful comments followed. Instead of being thankful that the fire was put out without anyone being hurt, they were disappointed. Instead of praising the firefighters, they praised the perpetrators.  Others posted threats of further escalations.

Dr Basharat Nazir, spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, was thankful for the support given: “We have been aware of some hostile reaction on the social media, but they are simply dwarfed by the positive support we have received via social media and directly.”

Nazir says that “The key battle is against ignorance and extremism in all faiths that we all have to fight against together.”

Some of the hate comments included:

• “Mosque in Morden on the news. 2 lads been arrested for setting it on fire. It can hold upto 10,000 worshipers. Well done boys but the was place fecking empty”
• “The two young men arrested for setting fire to a mosque should not be jailed. They should be given a medal”
• “They should have been pouring gasoline on it”
• “Let’s do the same here in the USA, burn down every single one of them”
• “Probably was a bomb making class mistake”
• “They should burn them all, and then kick them muslims out of our countrys”
• “one down, more to go”
• “A WARNING to them of things to come, I hope it was done on purpose. PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF THE MUZZIES. and their DEMANDS”
• “Make it a holiday”” It wasn’t arson, its pest control!!”

Twitter trolls also joined in.

It is difficult to consistently monitor hateful comments and keep networks free from hate but it is important that we do all we can. These comments incite harm which should never be tolerated. Since Sunday, hate comments have been reported on Wimbledon Guardian, Facebook, Twitter and other news outlets but thankfully many are quickly removed.

But Facebook needs to accept that these comments have the potential to incite hatred and violence. One comment that read “should have blown that whole b*tch up” was reported to Facebook; but when reviewed, Facebook told users that it did not breach their Community Standards.

After similar problems in the past, a petition was set up asking Facebook to work on its reporting mechanisms. One signatory Natalie Otterly wrote: “Hate speech as outlined is extremely dangerous and harmful, especially given the current volatile situation towards Muslims. It actively promotes violent and illegal action towards a religion and its followers”

The Ahmadiyya community received much public support from people of all walks of life. Support also included tweets from MPs like James Berry and UK Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening.

Dr Nazir says: “The huge public outpouring of support for us and the indomitable British character that people have exhibited has strengthened our resolve to rebuild the complex as soon as possible so that this house of God that is a beacon of peace can shine again in its full glory.”

It is also clear that the community are determined not to let the hate comments deter them:

“We live by an ethos of Love for All, Hatred for None.  It is a motto that is emblazoned across our mosque complex, and neither the fire nor any negativity are able to thwart our ambitions to serve God, to help mankind, and to be loyal citizens.”

The positive attitude and genuine warmth witnessed this weekend is an inspiring display of unity. Through this, we must all remember, hate comments and violence against Muslims are by no means just a Muslim problem; but a problem for us all to get through together. To truly have a peaceful supportive world both online and offline, we must all work collectively by tackling hate speech and giving to one another especially in times of need.

The post After the fire, why the Ahmadiyya community will not give into hate , by Rima Amin appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We have commented on the mosque fire at the Baitul Futuh mosque today. Yet, a simple search of Facebook pages where the fire was highlighted, such as the Evening Standard Facebook page, shows the following vile hateful comments below. These are just a few snapshots of comments which are made at the start of the Evening Standard Facebook page, yet it shows two issues. The first being – no moderation. This is simply not acceptable and major newspapers should have the ability to moderate their pages. The second is that some Muslims seeing the vast amount of hate and intolerance towards them and their mosques could well be influenced by counter or cumulative extremist views which can play into the hands of groups like Islamic State. This is the last place that anyone should consider going to, but given the sheer amount of anti-Muslim hatred out there and which has partly reared its ugly head today, there are real potential problems ahead.

Newspapers must moderate their comments and especially given the fact that far right groups mobilise and direct sympathisers to make anti-Muslim posts on mainstream platforms, so as to legitimise their views. Sadly, this is the environment we are in today and we cannot allow everyday platforms to be hijacked by any extreme group.

Furthermore Facebook’s response to this is to tell us to report in each comment. This is simply ludicrous when the vast majority of Muslims will not report in and for Facebook to suggest that we spend our limited resources to sit every day and report in tens of thousands of anti-Muslim comments is simply ludicrous. We have said before and we will say it again, these platforms, which are profit-making, give little if nothing back to civil society groups and their platforms are being used to promote open hatred and threats. Much of the former is not removed meaning that the volume sits and builds up for eternity. Also, given the loads on the Crown Prosecution Service, Police forces, civil society groups and police forces, it is time pressure was put on these social media platforms to get them to set up a significant civil society fund for counter-speech.

The post Thousands of Anti-Muslim Posts Today Could Fuel Reverse Extremism appeared first on TELL MAMA.