Today marks 20 years since the 7/7 bombings, a tragedy which saw 52 people lose their lives.
On 7th July 2005, four co-ordinated suicide attacks took place in London, three on the Underground and one on a bus.
Since the tragedy, the British Government has taken steps to prevent a similar attack happening again. However, what has actually changed in the 20 years since the 7/7 bombings?
Prevent, an anti-terror strategy, was created
One of the scenes of the 7/7 bombings via Netflix
Following the 7/7 bombings, the UK Government created Prevent, a series of initiatives which aim to stop a similar incident occurring again.
It was created in 2006, and is part of CONTEST, a four-pronged approach to counter-terrorism.
Prevent’s aim is to stop people who may be at risk of joining extremist groups from committing attacks.
As part of the initiative, anti-radicalisation sessions are held in schools, and concerned citizens are able to report people they believe could be radicalised.
However, according to the BBC, some have criticised Prevent, saying it could be counter-productive.
A number of MPs, the National Union of Teachers and the Muslim Council of Britain are some of those who have criticised the initiative.
Critics argue it could isolate Muslims and cause distrust across communities.
Despite this, last year alone, nearly 7,000 people were reported to Prevent, an increase of 1.5 per cent from the year before.
There has been increase Islamophobia following the bombings
A victim of the bombings being assisted by police officers via Netflix
Whilst this isn’t something that has changed due to legislation, anti-Muslim sentiment grew significantly following the attacks.
As soon as the bombers’ identities were publicised, members of the Muslim community reported increased Islamophobia.
In Netflix’s recent documentary, Attacking London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, Muslim leaders spoke out about the aftermath.
Members of the community were isolated, shunned, and discriminated against, due to the bombers being so-called Islamists.
In the documentary, Mohammed, a youth worker who knew one of the bombers, said when the news hit, he thought “not again”, adding that the “Muslim community couldn’t go through a moment where they were put under the microscope again”.
“We had lived in that time of 9/11, where we had to somehow apologise for the actions of some crazy people,” he said. “It killed me that Islam was being somehow associated with this bloodshed.”
However, since the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings, many Muslims still face racial hatred and prejudice.
According to the Nuffield Foundation, 73 per cent of Muslims have faced discrimination. Additionally, a report this year further showed hate crimes towards Muslims are at an all-time high.
The British Transport Police has taken additional steps to prevent a future tragedy
A forensics team working on one of the Underground carriages via Netflix
The British Transport Police, the agency that works to stop crime on both the Underground and London buses, has taken greater steps to prevent any further tragedies.
Speaking about 7/7, Chief Constable Paul Crowther said: “The heroic efforts of BTP personnel and all agencies who responded to the events of 7th July 2005 will never be forgotten and the memories of what happened on that day remain firmly in our minds.
“During the most difficult circumstances, BTP provided an absolutely outstanding level of service.
“A lot of things have changed since 7/7, both in how we monitor threats and how we respond when they are apparent.
“We now have comprehensive communications system which allows us to link in with Transport for London and other agencies much more efficiently.
“We have far greater access to CCTV, with more widespread coverage than ten years ago, and we use regular training exercises to test our response to threats.
“All of these changes are designed to help us ensure this terrible tragedy never happens again.”
New laws have been passed to create new offences and increase police powers
Emergency services at one of the scenes via Netflix
In 2006, Parliament passed the Terrorism Act, which gave new powers to police and created a new offences. One offence, for preparing acts of terrorism, meant that police could intervene sooner, during the potential attack’s planning stage.
The Act also allowed terrorism suspects to be detained for longer, which allowed officers to continue to question potential terrorists before charging them.
Furthermore, “encouragement of terrorism” became an offence. This meant someone who incites terrorism could be arrested. This aims to prevent radicalisation, as at least one of the bombers was known to have been radicalised this way.
More training for officers was also mandated in the Terrorism Act, as well as harsher sentences for those convicted of extremism offences.
7/7 indirectly led to ‘See it. Say it. Sorted’
The infamous “See it. Say it. Sorted” catchphrase which can be heard on trains across the nation, is part of the UK’s anti-terror initiative.
Following 7/7, the police and government ramped up its extremism prevention tactics, and “See it. Say it. Sorted” is thought to come from their anti-terrorism campaigning.
The purpose of the scheme, which started in 2016, is to allow concerned transport users to report suspicious behaviour to the British Transport Police.
The initiative is thought to be one of the most successful safety campaigns with nearly 30,000 people making reports to the police in its first year alone.
Featured image via Netflix
