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ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
R
ace or religious hate crime
jumped by more than two fifths
in thewakeof the EU referendum,
official figures show.
The number of racially and religiously
aggravated alleged offences recorded
by police in July was 41% higher than
in the same month last year, the Press
Association reported.
It comes after a spike in reported
incidents following the poll raised fears
of awave of xenophobic and racist abuse.
A Home Office report also showed that
in 2015/16 the overall number of hate
crimes logged by forces in England and
Wales increased by 19%, with 62,518
offences recorded – a rate of around 170
every day.
In the wake of the EU Referendum result,
the Huffington Post UK compiled a list of
racist incidents reported on social media.
More than 300 hate crime incidents were
reported to a national online portal in the
week following the vote – compared to
a weekly average of 63, figures from the
National Police Chiefs’ Council showed.
Since it was published, such stories
have continued to emerge.
Do you support or oppose government proposals to make companies
report how many foreign workers they employ?
Source: YouGov, 5 October 2016
30%
29%
15%
14%
12%
Strongly
support
Somewhat
support
Don’t know Somewhat
oppose
Strongly
oppose
Post-Brexit racist and religious hate crimes
spiked in month after vote
It’s been called "celebratory racism".
By Louise Ridley
One expert told HuffPost UK this
was a surge in “celebratory racism”
because some white Brits felt they
have “finally got something” after the
referendum.
The result has encouraged a new
kind of hostility towards “anyone
who is different”, as the idea of
‘Englishness’ becomes exclusively
white and Christian, according to Dr
Paul Bagguley, from the Centre of
Ethnicity and Racism Studies at Leeds
University.
Bagguley claimed the leadership
crisis in both the Conservative and
Labour parties had added to a feeling
of lawlessness in which people do
things they “frankly wouldn’t do”
normally.
But expressions of hate have been
countered by gestures of solidarity.
From flowers being handed out at
school to dozens of cards being sent
to a Polish centre that was the target of
racist abuse people have been going
out of their way to make sure people
of other cultures feel welcome.
“Love and solidarity” protests took
place in July at London Tube stations,
where people held flowers and
messages of peace, and gave out
stickers, love hearts and information
on how to report hate crime.
13 October 2016
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The
above
information
is
reprinted with kind permission
from The Huffington Post UK.
Please visit
.
co.uk for further information.
© 2017 AOL (UK) Limited
