Religious and ethnic faultlines add to tension in UK

Something seems to be changing in British society. While most people living in mixed communities seem to get along, sometimes religious and ethnic faultlines become apparent.

Some argue that Britain has become increasingly divided, a trend that's become increasingly visible in the last decade.

Birmingham is Britain's second largest city, where dozens of different nationalities live and work. Among them are Sikhs, of whom there are more than half a million practising in England and Wales. 

There have been a spate of attacks on Sikhs in the Birmingham region, including the rape of a young woman on September 9 in Oldbury, a market town six miles east of the city. 

In response, some gudwaras - Sikh places of worship - have organized patrols and security for members of their communities.  

"It's been the worst that we've come across this incident. It's caused a lot of unrest, and it's caused a lot of concern," said Kulbinder Gakhal who volunteers as an education coordinator at the Guru Nanak Gudwara in nearby Smethwick.

She added: "For women, the fact that it happened in broad daylight, that kind of speaks volumes for the amount of fear (prevalent). It's really shaken up our community."

Security outside mosques, synagogues and Sikh temples in the UK, are more common than in the past. 

Two people were killed on Thursday when a man drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing them outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester.

The attacker has been named by police as Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, who was shot dead at the scene by armed officers.

Escorting

In Birmingham the Smethwick Gudwara has arranged for men to escort vulnerable women to their homes, and when they come to pray and socialize at the temple.

Tej Kaur and her friend Balbir are glad to have male Sikhs wearing blue security bibs escorting them home safely after prayers.

According to Tej: "We are scared because of what happened with the attack on the girl. We are scared when we are on any road and whilst walking home."

Balbir added: "We are really scared and that's why we prefer to have someone walk with us."

Since August there have been several racial attacks reported in Britain. Some are instances of verbal abuse, while there have been reports of physical attacks and rape. 

Graffiti daubed around the Guru Nanak Gurdwara celebrating far-right groups The National Front (NF) and the British National Party (BNP), along with Nazi swastikas, has appeared. 

That has spooked many Sikhs in Birmingham's Smethwick district.

The National Front (NF) is a fascist political party whose late 1970s heyday was assumed to be consigned to history. The NF  stands for ethnic nationalism and its members believe that only white people should be citizens of the UK.

Jagit Singh, a security guard at the Gudwara, told us in rapidly delivered Punjabi: "It's totally unacceptable to have these slogans at our place of worship. It can scare people when they walk past. And it's almost a reminder of the message from those people for us to go back home. It's unsettling.'

Sikhs pray and socialize at Smethwick's Guru Nanak Gudwara. In Britain, Sikh temples are often havens as people mix with those of their own faith and culture.

Rewards offered

There is a £10,000 ($13,446) reward being offered for any information to catch those responsible for the rape in Oldbury in September. 

A further £20,000 ($26,897) reward has been offered by the charity Crimestoppers for information leading to the conviction of two men sought over the "racially motivated" rape.  

The brutal crime is why personal alarms are handed out free of charge to women at the gurdwara.Despite these developments, statistics don't show a big increase in racially motivated attacks in Britain - but the use of the English St George and Union Jack flags is widespread. 

People want to show their Britishness or Englishness - but it can also inflame prejudice against ethnic minorities and migrants.

Hardening rhetoric

Political rhetoric in Britain is hardening. Tens of thousands marched in London in September, complaining that they're losing their country to migrants and asylum seekers.  

At the ruling Labour party political conference in Liverpool, center-left government ministers were accused by some delegates of copying far right wing politicians and activists in their attempts to sound patriotic.

Conference delegates were handed Union Jack flags and the national flags of England, Scotland and Wales. 

Britain's minister for interior affairs is a Muslim of Pakistani origin. Shaban Mahmood warned conference delegates about increasing ethnic divisions and discontent.

In her speech, she said: "(There are) a growing number, who are on a path from patriotism towards ethno-nationalism, and this can be stopped. But to do so we have to understand why so many people feel this country is not working for them. Because the truth is, across this country, people feel like things are spinning out of control."

Britain is changing as some people from ethnic minorities form and stay within their own tight-knit communities.

Kulbinder Gakhal in Smethwick's Gurdwara argues more could be done for people to understand the different cultures in society.

"It is very much down to ignorance because if these people were a little bit more educated on the different types of cultures, religion …it is very diverse, very multicultural, in Birmingham," she said. "Maybe it is down to ignorance and the fact that people aren't educated enough to know the difference between different religions, different cultures and they don't have any respect for that."