Hawzah News Agency-Following a divisive presidential election campaign, more than 700 Islamophobic and racist harassment or intimidation events were reported. The Southern Poverty Law Center has published research on hate crimes covering a week after Trump was elected as U.S. president. The report also noted that there were numerous verbal harassment or intimidation cases targeting Muslims, politicians, Jews and some other ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The U.S. Justice Department has investigated whether recent reports of intimidation and harassment, including in schools and at churches, violate federal hate crime and other civil rights laws.

Civil rights groups have signaled alarm over attacks they say have targeted minorities, including Muslim, black and Hispanic Americans, since Republican Donald Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 8.

Earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released annual crime statistics for 2015 showing a 67 percent increase from the previous year in hate crimes against Muslims, a report that Lynch called "deeply sobering" on Friday.