A cocktail of anti-immigration politics and misinformation about viscerally upsetting news has led to riots

It is only six days since three girls aged under 10 were killed, and several other women and children injured, by a knife attacker at a dance class in Southport. It is hard to overstate the horror of these events, and hard also to imagine the additional strain brought by the wider violence that has followed. The families of the three dead girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe – and others who remain in hospital, can hardly have begun to process their losses as the ugliest of reactions set in.

A teenager, Axel Rudakubana, has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. As Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, and others wrote to the home secretary on Thursday, the attack must be viewed in the context of what police chiefs described last month as a “national emergency” of violence against girls and women. Partly because the suspect’s 18th birthday is on Wednesday, and also in an effort to tackle misinformation, a judge decided to name him.

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From a headscarf ban for French athletes to social cleansing in the capital, these Games rest on a foundation of injustice

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony was a stunning spectacle for global audiences, projecting an image of a proudly inclusive and festive France – even if the awkward truth is that, just a few weeks earlier, our country was on the verge of putting a racist far-right party into government. The ceremony’s various tableaux were presented as a triumphant display of our different cultures performed by artists of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and genders, and fuelled by references to historical struggles against oppression.

But this unifying narrative introduced an Olympic and Paralympic Games that in reality are not all that inclusive.

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A group of Muslim men put themselves in danger to calm unrest in Harehills over children being taken into care

Nadsy Qurban bent his neck to show how the crown of his head was ­covered in a number of burns, each the size of coins. “The smell was like I’m burning some goat or something, like I’m cooking some goat. That’s how bad it was,” he said.

Needless to say, it hurt. But a week on, the burns he gained while putting out fires during unrest in the Harehills area of Leeds are ­starting to heal.

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Family of a man seen being kicked by police call for ‘time to heal’ as far-right groups and others try to exploit the fallout

Friday prayers are often seen as the most important event in the weekly calendar for Muslims. But in Rochdale last week, they were more vital than usual. Three days on from the video that shocked the world, many feared the town was teetering on the brink of serious unrest.

The footage showed an armed officer, Taser drawn, forcefully kick the head of a man who lay face down on the ground, already apparently incapacitated, as police responded to reports of an assault at Manchester airport. He then stamped on the man’s head and violently kneed him in the side, as onlookers screamed.

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Sounkamba Sylla reportedly reaches compromise after France’s strict laws on secularism threatened to bar her

A French sprinter is expected to swap her headscarf for a cap in order to participate in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics, in a compromise reportedly struck after the country’s strict laws on secularism threatened to bar her from the event.

Earlier this week Sounkamba Sylla, a Muslim member of France’s 400m women’s and mixed relay teams, said she would not be able to take part in Friday’s ceremony because she wears a hijab.

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Saudi authorities reported clearing unregistered pilgrims but many still took part with no access to cooler spaces

The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000, with more than half of the victims unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

The new deaths reported on Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 Egyptians who died, 630 were unregistered pilgrims.

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We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about theirs or their children’s experiences of prayer at school

A Muslim pupil has lost their high court appeal against Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, over its ban on prayer rituals . The pupil had claimed the ban was discriminatory and breached her right to religious freedom.

We would like to hear from Muslims in the UK about their experiences of prayer when they were at school. We’re particularly interested in hearing from Muslims aged 18 or over who were able to pray at school in the UK and parents who are comfortable with sharing their children’s experiences.

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Kids pausing their football so a friend can pray; theology chats over lunch – I’ve seen the richness that religious diversity brings to school life

A Muslim student at Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, has lost a high court challenge to the school’s ban on prayer rituals. As a Muslim secondary schoolteacher, I have to say I am disappointed – but not surprised.

The appeal was lost on the grounds that the school declares itself secular. This is something the headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh, insists all students and parents know when applying. In the written judgment dismissing the student’s case, Mr Justice Linden went as far as to say that: “The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.”

Nadeine Asbali is a secondary school teacher in London and the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain

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Featuring stars including Riz Ahmed and Nabhaan Rizwan, the event aims to celebrate the ‘rich tapestry of Muslim experiences via the medium of film’

The UK’s first major film festival dedicated to Muslim cinema announced its inaugural lineup on Tuesday, with a slew of award-winning films featuring the likes of Riz Ahmed and Informer’s Nabhaan Rizwan .

Ahmed, winner of an Oscar for best live action short film, will appear in Dammi, a short film directed by Yann Demange, the French film-maker best known for Top Boy and Northern Ireland-set drama ’71. Ahmed co-stars with Isabelle Adjani in a story about a man confronting his French and Algerian heritage on a trip to Paris. Rizwan plays the lead in In Camera, a British feature directed by Naqqash Khalid that screened at the London film festival, as an actor struggling to make a career in the film industry in the face of repeated rejections.

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