An exhibition has been raising awareness of “harrowing examples of abuse” suffered by Muslims across South Yorkshire.

The Islamophobia Awareness Exhibition drew to a close at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue’s headquarters this week, with a virtual version still available online.

It outlined the contributions of Muslims to British society, aiming to educate members of the public on positive Muslim contributions to society.

The organisation – called Islamophobia Awareness Month – tackles the presence of Islamophobia in today’s society, particularly the representation of Muslims through the media, throughout the year.

Leslie Hayhurst, 52, people officer at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said: “It needs to be more about understanding similarities, not differences, to prevent harrowing examples of abuse.”

She said SYFR is continuing to train its staff to be aware of hate crime so they know how to recognise and deal with it.

This year’s exhibition theme, #tacklingdenial, focuses on the acknowledgement of Islamophobia in society and has seen over 200 events and more councils and organisations publicising the event.

Nahid Roshanali, 28, who is a part of IAM, said: “People don’t want to address Islamophobia” and that the exhibition is “encouraging people to become supportive and to create those changes.”

Muslims make up 4.4% of UK society but a report by the Centre of Media Monitoring found that over a third of articles reported, misrepresented or generalised Muslim stories.

Now that Islamophobia Awareness month is over, the organisation is still encouraging members of the public to educate themselves through the resources available on their website: https://www.islamophobia-awareness.org/resources/ .

The information packs include information on why Islamophobia awareness matters and how people can get involved.