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5 Racist Hate Crimes Against UK Minorities Since Brexit

  • 5 Racist Hate Crimes Against UK Minorities Since Brexit

    | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 June 2016
Opinion

Amid a surge of xenophobia since the Brexit result, teleSUR looks at five examples of the hate currently terrorizing minorities within the country.

Racism is nothing new to Britain but there is no denying hate crimes and abuse against minorities surged over the weekend after almost 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the European Union.

There was a 57 percent increase in incidents reported between Thursday and Sunday compared with the same days four weeks earlier, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan asked police Monday to be on heightened alert to deal with hate crimes directed against minorities and immigrants. The mayor vowed there would be "zero tolerance" for such acts.

"I'm calling on all Londoners to pull together and rally behind this great city. While I'm Mayor, addressing hate crimes will be a priority for the Met," Khan said in a statement.

teleSUR looks at five of the incidents reported against immigrants, Muslims and EU citizens living in the U.K. that have made headlines over the past few days.

1. Attacks Against the Polish Community

Two Polish men, a father and son, were left with bloody faces Saturday in the wake of other attacks against their community following the Brexit vote. A man, named Carlos, tweeted about the incident as he came across the injured. 

He posted pictures of the men lying injured on the ground as they eventually got up and paramedics treated them.

London’s Metropolitan police also said Sunday they were looking into “allegedly racially motivated criminal damage” to the Polish Social and Cultural Association in west London, after graffiti was found on the front entrance that read: ”Fuck off.”

Photos posted to social media websites showed cards reading: “Leave the E.U. No more Polish vermin” which were left outside homes as well as a school in Cambridgeshire where many Polish immigrants live and work.

The Polish embassy released a statement Monday expressing alarm at the “recent incidents of xenophobic abuse” of the Polish community and other minority groups.

2. Attacks Against Muslims

Two men were arrested in Birmingham after a protest outside a mosque Saturday, where police confiscated a banner with the slogan "rapefugees not welcome."

A Twitter user wrote: “This evening my daughter left work in Birmingham and saw a group of lads corner a Muslim girl shouting 'Get out, we voted leave.' Awful times”

According to the Muslim Council for Britain (MCB) there have been more than 100 reports of 'hate crimes' against Muslims since the Brexit result.

Another Twitter user reported that men shouted “out, out, out” at a Muslim woman in South London, telling her: “this is England, we’re white, get out of my country.”

3. Attacks Against 'Remain' Campaigner and Journalists Who Cover Racist Incidents

In Wales, businesswoman Shazia Awan, who campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the EU, was told to “pack her bags and go home” shortly after the results of the Brexit were released Friday.

RT reported that Diamond-mining tycoon and major “Leave” campaign donor Arron Banks went on a social media attack against journalists reporting on incidents of racial abuse with the Brexit vote.

Reports suggest Banks, the co-founder of Leave.EU, spent up to US$8.5 million on the Brexit campaign.

4. BBC Reporter Sima Kotecha Called One of UK's Most Racist Words

BBC news presenter Sima Kotecha was left in "utter shock" today after suffering racist abuse in her hometown of Basingstoke, Hampshire, when she was called a 'P***'.

“In utter shock: just been called p**i in my home town! Haven't heard that word here since the 80s!” she tweeted Monday afternoon.  

5. Sikh British Man Told to Go to Pakistan

On Twitter, Ali Abbasi said that a Sikh colleague was told by a patient: “shouldn’t you be on a plane back to Pakistan? we voted you out.”

And this is just one example of the thousands being reported on Twitter, from Polish children in tears because of fears of deportation to white men harassing Muslim majority schools.

See below for more examples of racial hate and discrimination:

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