Police in London launched an investigation yesterday into a possible hate crime after a car hit a crowd outside a mosque, injuring three people. The collision, in Cricklewood in north London yesterday morning, followed the occupants of the car allegedly directing "comments of an Islamophobic nature" at the group, according to the Metropolitan Police, as reported by Agence France-Presse ( AFP).

The incident left a man in his 50s hospitalized with "a serious leg injury", while two other men in their 20s suffered minor injuries, it added.

The group Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks, known as Tell MAMA UK, suggested in August that there appeared to be a pattern of a spike in Islamophobic incidents following terrorist attacks in Britain and abroad. It said anti-Muslim incidents increased by 700 percent in the week following a terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena in May 2017, when 22 people died and hundreds were injured after a performance by U.S. singer Ariana Grande.

Tell MAMA also recorded a spike of nearly 500 percent in anti-Muslim incidents reported in the week following Britain's vote to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016. The group said it had "verified 54 incidents against Islamic institutions" in Britain last year.

On June 19 last year, Darren Osborne ploughed a van into people leaving late-night prayers at a mosque in Finsbury Park in north London, killing one man and injuring 11 others.

The U.K. was also shaken by a letter calling on people to perpetrate violent crimes against the country's Muslim community as it advertised April 3 as a day of "violence against Muslims" in the country. The letter calls on people to attack Muslims in the form of verbal abuse or physical assault, such as by removing a woman's hijab or headscarf, or by throwing acid on them.