FAR-RIGHT extremists are posing as protectors of women in order to spread their anti-Muslim hatred, a report by the Commission for Countering Extremism revealed today.

Figures such as former English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as “Tommy Robinson,” are using rallies to “deliberately distort the truth” so as to incite “discriminatory and hateful attitudes” among their supporters, the commission said.

The government agency looked at several examples of protests to measure the effect of such behaviour and the response to the incidents, including in Sunderland where tensions rose in September 2016 after a woman claimed that she had been gang-raped by a group of Middle Eastern men.

When no suspects were prosecuted, “prominent far-right figures” took up the woman’s cause, organising 13 marches in 13 months which at their height drew up to 1,000 participants.

The report found that “key figures in protests” were “promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media,” attending marches and using them “to spread anti-minority and anti-Muslim agendas.”

Commission head Sara Khan said victims need to be better protected, and those working to tackle extremism need more support, as she called for changes to the current strategy.

Runnymede Trust deputy director Zubaida Haque criticised the report for its “huge oversight” in failing to mention Islamophobia in the Conservative Party or politicians’ use of “hate-mongering language.”

Ms Haque tweeted: “In fact, Islamophobia is only mentioned four times in the whole 143-page report (and the four times are all in footnotes).

“Are some forms of racism and hatred worse than others?”