SCOTS Muslims have warned of an increasing number of Islamophobic incidents which are often unreported amid growing fears that a Finsbury Park-style terror attack by far-right extremists could occur north of the border.

Police Scotland confirmed last night that armed officers will be at mosques today as worshippers gather to celebrate the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but underlined there is “no specific threat” and urged Muslims to “go about their business as normal”. Tension has heightened since Monday’s attack in London when one man died and nine people were injured after a white van mounted a pavement outside Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road in the early hours. On Friday Darren Osborne, 47, was charged with terrorism-related murder and attempted murder.

The Sunday Herald has learned that Scottish Muslim leaders have warned worshippers not to gather in groups on the street outside mosques during today’s Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said there is “real concern” among Muslims in Scotland following the Finsbury Park attack.

He said: “What everybody’s conscious about is something like this could happen here because we’re increasingly seeing lone wolves. The community has to be prepared and counter-terrorism officers have to be prepared. There has been an underplaying of far-right organisations in Scotland but we’ve seen their rise here just as much as in the rest of the country.”

Anwar pointed to the case of Thomas Connington, 29, who was jailed on Wednesday for a petrol bomb attack on an Edinburgh mosque. Anwar said if Connington had firebombed a church it would have been front page news, adding: “We have to be vigilant about radicalisation of Muslims but there is also a huge radicalisation taking place by right-wing extremists.”

Liaquat Ali of the Muslim Council of Scotland (MCS), said it is a “worrying time” for Muslims. “The community has been warned. We certainly hope we won’t see a similar attack to that which happened in Finsbury Park but we have to be vigilant,” he said. “MCS has been speaking to police, and mosques are on alert. We are keeping in close contact with police, and security has been tightened around mosques.”

Ahmed Owusu-Konadu, of Glasgow’s Ahmadiyya mosque, said a warning was issued to worshippers ahead of today’s celebrations. “We are very aware of the undercurrents of hate that exists, for example on social media. The Finsbury Park attack was troubling and we have taken action to protect our members as best we can with help of Police Scotland – for example by not congregating outside the mosque after prayers and being very careful in our daily lives.”

A recent report into extremism by anti-racism group Hope not Hate said the so-called “New Right” extremists are a growing problem across the UK, with new groups springing up in Scotland. The report – State of Hate 2017 – said new branches of far-right groups had been monitored in Scotland. Described as a “collection of racial nationalist discussion groups”, these “forums” – as Hope Not Hate refers to them – hold meetings where “fascists, Nazis, racists and Holocaust deniers come together to hear speeches and discuss extremist ideas”. There was a spike in anti-Muslim hate crime in London and Manchester in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack earlier this month and the Manchester bombing in May.

Official figures for Scotland released this month show an increase in the number of attacks on Muslims in the last three years. The number of assault charges “where conduct was derogatory towards Islam” stood at 12 in 2014/15 and rose to 22 in both 2015/16 and 2016/17. Last year there were also 56 charges for threatening or abusive behaviour, 14 for acting in a racially aggravated manner, seven for offensive communications, six for breach of the peace and eight charges classed as “other”. However, the total number of Islamophobic charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of Scotland (COPFS) has dropped by 16 per cent, from 134 in 2015/16 to 113 in 2016/17.

Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, a charity which supports migrants, said: “It’s really quite tiring to see statistics showing the number of attacks is going down. That is not the reality on the ground. There are physical attacks, verbal attacks, and these incidents are not always being reported.

“Statistics on hate crime are not the finger on the pulse of racism that people like to think they are. Things are worse than what’s being counted. But even when figures have increased in the past the police response is ‘it’s because people are more confident about coming forward to report incidents’, not because there is an increase in racism or religious hate. That’s a big problem.”

Glasgow Labour councillor Soryia Siddique said women who wear the hijab are “particularly vulnerable”. “I’ve heard people say that women need to be careful when they are out and about because they are potential targets.” Both Siddique and Qureshi said they have anecdotal evidence of a spike in Islamophobia in recent weeks and are frustrated that many incidents are not reported.

Siddique added: “There have been concerns raised regarding under reporting of hate crime and religiously motivated crime.”

Ali, of the MCS, added: “The reporting of incidents has gone down and police may see that as a positive but I believe the truth is that incidents are still happening but they are not always reported. A number of ladies I’ve spoken to feel uncomfortable wearing a headscarf because they have become a target. People will only report incidents if they feel confident that something will be done. We have tried to build up people’s confidence so that they are more likely to report incidents that are happening.”

Superintendent David Duncan of Police Scotland, said: “We recognise and have publicly said in the past that there is under-reporting of all hate crimes and we encourage anyone who is a victim of such an attack to always report it to the police. Members of the public can expect to see armed patrols around mosques and other places of worship, in order to reassure them that Police Scotland is committed to keeping people safe. We have long-established close links with Muslim communities throughout Scotland and this includes regular dialogue at local and national levels.”

He added: “We have had no reports of any increase in attacks and have had positive feedback from key members of the Muslim community as to the police response. While the UK threat level remains at ‘severe’ we have no specific information that Scotland is at risk of attack and we would ask that people go about their business as normal, and they should be alert but not alarmed.”