Police Report Hate Crime Surge around Brexit Vote
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hate crimes surged in Britain before and after the June 23 EU referendum, police said, following a campaign dominated by a divisive debate about immigration.
More than 3,000 incidents were reported to police across the country between June 16 and 30, up 42 percent on the same period last year, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council on Friday.
The police attributed part of the increase to greater vigilance by police and greater awareness among the public. But anti-racism campaigners had previously reported a surge in attacks, from verbal abuse to physical attacks, in the days after Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
British Prime Minister David Cameron had raised the issue in Parliament, citing “despicable” graffiti daubed on a Polish community center and abuse directed at members of ethnic minorities. There was a peak in reported offenses on June 25, the day after the referendum result was announced, when there were 289 incidents.
The numbers have since declined. The most common of the 3,076 offenses reported was harassment, including assault, verbal abuse and spitting, AFP reported on Saturday.
Thursday, envelopes including messages of abuse and white powder were sent to several London mosques and a Muslim member of the House of Lords, sparking security alerts across the capital.
“There are a lot of very frightened communities in Britain,” opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a speech to a pan-European socialist conference in Paris.
Parts of the Houses of Parliament were locked down Thursday after a Muslim peer, Nazir Ahmed, received a letter containing racist abuse and white powder. It proved harmless but Ahmed told AFP it had been “frightening.” The Evening Standard newspaper reported similar letters sent to a mosque and a Muslim organization in north London.
