ORGANISATIONS across Leeds are being urged to ‘say no to Islamophobia’.

Leeds City Council is among the ,many local groups that have signed a new pledge, on behalf of the Leeds Hate Crime Strategic Board, to stand together against the prejudice that Muslims face.

The Shantona Women’s and Family Centre’s Untold Stories film project, launched earlier this year, also highlighted Muslim women’s experiences of Islamophobia in Leeds.

The centre’s Chief Executive, Nahid Rasool, said: “We are urging individuals to sign up to our ‘I say NO to Islamophobia’ pledge.

“We believe that when individuals decide to make a change this can have enormous ripple effects across all the communities and structures they are part of.

“To improve the situation, organisations involved in the pledge will work together to encourage people to report anti-Muslim incidents and hate crimes and raise awareness within their workforces.”

The pledge has been launched during Islamophobia Awareness Month and has been taken up by a number of other major organisations.

They include West Yorkshire Police, the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner West Yorkshire; Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust; Leeds Clinical Commissioning Groups Partnership; The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; and Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Residents, meanwhile, can also make a personal pledge at www.shantona.co.uk/view/say-no-to-islamophobia.

The website explains that: “Islamophobia is prevalent in our society, but it doesn’t have to be.

“Every day people are experiencing Islamophobic hate crime and research shows that the majority of anti-muslim hate is directed at women.

“It is everybody’s responsibility to stand up and Say No to Islamophobia, not just Muslims, and to show our society that these attitudes and behaviours are not acceptable.

“So we are asking you to call out Islamophobia every time you hear it, see it and sense it, whether that is at your workplace, in the supermarket, at the bus queue or even in our your own home.

“We’re urging individuals and organisations to sign up to our pledge to show that Yorkshire says ‘No to Islamophobia.’”