More than 100 incidents of hate crimes and racial abuse have been reported in Britain after it voted to leave the European Union, reports have said. Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his resignation after the referendum, condemned such attacks and said, “We will not stand for hate crime or these kinds of attacks, they must be stamped out.” There has been around a 57% increase in such incidents. “It’s no coincidence this has come off the back of the EU vote,” a police source told The Guardian.
Several of the incidents have been targeted at Muslims and members of the Polish community. At least 8,50,000 Londoners are from other countries in the European Union, with a majority from Ireland and Poland. Muslim ‘Remain’ campaigner and former Conservative parliamentary candidate Shazia Awan received a Tweet on Friday saying, “Pack your bags....youre (sic) going home.” Analysts have said that xenophobia was a reason many voters chose to exit the European Union.
After the results came in, Conservative Party leader Sayeeda Warsi said immigrants were being stopped on streets and abused. Warsi, who was initially part of the ‘Leave’ campaign, switched over to the ‘Remain’ camp.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said there will be zero tolerance towards such attacks, and that police will be extra vigilant. He appealed to Londoners to live in harmony and said, it was “really important we stand guard against any rise in hate crimes or abuse by those who might use last week's referendum as cover to seek to divide us.”
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