‘Overwhelming’ support for Muslim hiking group after racist comments following Derbyshire Christmas Day walk

Members of a Muslim hiking group say they have received an ‘overwhelming response of solidarity from the community’ – after racist comments were made on social media following their Christmas Day walk in Derbyshire.
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Muslim Hikers, founded by Haroon Mota, led a group of more than 100 people on the December 25 hike in the Peak District.

But after hikers shared photos of the trip on Facebook, Mr Mota said ‘some very racist comments’ were made.

The spectacular Peak District.The spectacular Peak District.
The spectacular Peak District.
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He told the PA news agency: “These type of comments, racist comments, only make it more problematic for those from our community who feel less empowered to get outside.

“For people who might be joining for the first time, they might think ‘oh wow, is this what people actually think?’

“One of the reasons why we set up Muslim Hikers was so that we could stand together and for greater diversity and inclusion.

“We’ve been working extremely hard to create a culture of confidence in the outdoors.”

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Salma Mehboob, who was on the hike, said she saw ‘some racist comments such as comparing the walkers to the Serengeti wildebeest migration’.

After Muslim Hikers exposed some of the hateful remarks on the group’s Twitter account, many people hit out at the racists and expressed their support for the walkers.

Mr Mota said: “After sharing these comments we’ve had such an overwhelming response in terms of solidarity from the wider community.

“In a positive way it has given us an opportunity to really call that type of behaviour out.”

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