London. Following an incident in which a man sitting in a car in Commercial Road, Tower Hamlets had a noxious liquid, believed to be bleach, thrown in his face and his car stolen, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs issued a statement seeking to reassure residents. Stand Up To Racism announced a "vigil in solidarity with Resham and Jameel, and the victims of anti-Muslim hate crime" planned to be held outside Stratford station on 5 July. A crowdfunding campaign set up to help support the pair's aftercare has raised over £46,000. Criticism of media coverage and police response Jameel Muhktar criticised the initial lack of media coverage and the framing of the incident. Muhktar told Channel 4 News that "If this was an Asian guy like myself, going up to an English couple in a car and acid attacking them, I know for a fact and the whole country knows that it would be classed as a terror attack". He suggested the incident may have been motivated by Islamophobia and as revenge for recent terrorist attacks in the UK. Resham Khan reported that the Metropolitan Police took "several days" to take any statement from her and that the London Ambulance Service "took too long" to arrive; with the victims being driven to hospital by a bystander. In an article for The Independent, Sufyan Ismail was critical of the media coverage of the incident, noting most mainstream media failed to cover the incident or "at best relegated it to a minor story". Ismail suggested that had the roles of the victims and perpetrator been reversed the case would have been headline news. He compared the acid attack to violent hate-murders of Muslims that had received little coverage in contrast with the murder of Jo Cox or that of Lee Rigby. Government response In an article for The Sunday Times on 16 July, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary cited the attack on Khan and Mukhtar when she announced an "action plan to tackle acid attacks" which would include "wide-ranging review of the law enforcement and criminal justice response, of existing legislation, of access to harmful products and of the support offered to victims." References Attacks in the United Kingdom in 2017 2017 crimes in London Acid attack victims 2017 Beckton acid attack Chemical weapons attacks History of the London Borough of Newham June 2017 crimes in Europe June 2017 events in