CAIRO, July 19 (IslamOnline.net) – More than nine out of 10 white Britons have no or hardly any Muslim or other ethnic minority friends, a report revealed Monday, July 19, raising warnings against growing racial hatred and belief in racist propaganda.

This came as a Muslim former employee of a financial multinational group is suing the company in Britain, saying he was racially abused for more than two years after the September 11 attacks before being driven out of his job.

The report, conducted by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), revealed the continuing gulf between races and religions more than 40 years after the country became a multicultural society.

The poll, details of which were revealed by the Guardian newspaper, found that 94% of white people say most or all their friends are of the same race, while 47% of ethnic minorities say white people form all or most of their friends.

The poll found that a majority of white people do not share the bonds of close friendship with their fellow black, Asian or Muslim Britons, meaning they may lack the empathy that close contact can bring.

More than eight out of 10 white people have no friends who are practicing Muslims, and only one in 10 white people was close to a Hindu or a Sikh.

Pollsters YouGov asked 2,065 white and 808 ethnic minority people aged over 18 for details of their closest 10 to 20 friends in an internet survey.

This no-contact situation, the CRE warns, leaves swaths of the population open to believing the worst of different ethnic and religious groups.

Peter Kellner of YouGov told the daily this had an effect on the knowledge the majority white community had of their ethnic minority fellow citizens.

"There is an empathy born of experience. With a great number of white people there is not that empathy born of experience."

The CRE chair, Trevor Phillips, was taken by the lack of knowledge on other minority groups in a country that has more than two million Muslims and a considerable number of other ethnic groups.

"It surprised me the extent to which the majority community still does not really know minority communities," Philips told the British daily.

He said the lack of close knowledge could lead white people to believe lurid tabloid headlines and racist propaganda.

"When it comes to race and religion this clearly demonstrates we are dealing with a difference of which most people in this country have no first-hand experience.

"And therefore it is not surprising that they can be misled about blacks, Gypsies and Muslims, and it's not surprising that for no apparent reason they can become hostile and racist."

Phillips said integration could not be left to chance, urging the government to step in and boost integration efforts.

He believed the government should fund US-style summer camp places for 16-year-olds where they can take part in activities with teenagers they would otherwise not meet, according to the paper.

"In Britain we still don't know each other. We are not like Americans who do know each other but have made an active choice to live in a segregated society."

Around two-thirds of all ethnic groups believe that ethnic minority Britons too often live apart from the rest of society.

The survey indicates the situation may be worsening. While younger whites mix more than older ones, the reverse is true of some ethnic minority communities.

The friends of 60% of white people over 50 are of the same race, compared with 43% for white people under 30. But while 19% of ethnic minority Britons over 50 have friends who are almost exclusively from ethnic minority communities, that rises to 39% for those aged 30 or under.

In January, a Mori poll found that 41% of white people and 26% of ethnic minority people surveyed wanted the races to live separately.

The survey came one day after an assistant vice-president for Citigroup said he was driven to sue after the firm ignored his complaints.

Yaldrem Majeed, 35, is the second British-based Muslim employee of Citigroup - one of the world's largest financial companies – to take legal action complaining of racial harassment, the Guardian reported.

Majeed, who was a performance analyst based in London and started full-time work for the company in August 2001, said that he was subjected to bullying, harassment and victimization, which started after September 11/2001 attacks in the United States.

According to the documents of the case, lodged with the south London employment tribunal, when Majeed was praying in the office, his manager said: "It is terrible to have to pray five times a day."

In another instance Majeed was asked whether Muslims could kill anybody they liked. According to his statement: "The applicant replied Muslims were not allowed to kill anyone and [his manager] replied that it would seem that they could and that the applicant was like them."

He says he went through internal company grievance procedures, but his employers sided with those he claimed were tormenting him.

Majeed quit his £59,000-a-year job in April alleging constructive dismissal, the Guardian said.

The company vigorously denies that it tolerates racist behavior, claiming Majeed's claims are baseless.