After Brexit vote, wave of racist and xenophobic threats reported across U.K.
In the wake of Britain’s historic Brexit vote to leave the European Union last week, U.K. police have been receiving increased reports of xenophobic and racist threats made against immigrants across the country — particularly Polish people, local officials said.
In Hammersmith, West London, the entrance building that houses the Polish Social and Cultural Association was defaced by graffiti that read, “Go home.” According to the Evening Standard, police are investigating it as a “racially motivated” crime.
In Huntingdon, a town in Cambridgeshire, laminated cards carrying the message “Leave the EU/No more Polish Vermin” — written in both English and Polish — were reportedly left in the mailboxes of Polish families.
these cards have actually been put through letter boxes of Polish families in Huntingdon today. I could weep pic.twitter.com/P3maK1Vasf
— fencelt (@howgilb) June 25, 2016
According to the paper, a Polish primary-school student found several of the same signs outside his school in Cambridgeshire on Friday morning. Police there were said to be investigating the threatening signs as a possible hate crime.
Polish Embassy statement following recent incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against #PolesinUK. pic.twitter.com/ndYVgk4yWj
— Polish Embassy UK (@PolishEmbassyUK) June 27, 2016
Greg Hands, a Conservative Member of Parliament, condemned the anti-Polish threats.
Further, let us all say it loud & clear that Poles are incredibly welcome in the UK & the word "Solidarity" never felt more appropriate.
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) June 26, 2016
Twitter users spent part of the weekend documenting examples of such threats using the hashtag #PostRefRacism. And Poles weren’t the only immigrants on the receiving end.
Disgusting RT @fionaand: Older woman on the 134 bus gleefully telling a young Polish woman and her baby to get off and get packing.Horrific.
— ChannyAmos (@Channy_Amos) June 25, 2016
"Table next to me says to Polish waitress "How come you're so cheerful? You're going home." Him and the missus started laughing." Disgusting
— Jamie Pohotsky (@jamiepohotsky) June 24, 2016
Last night a Sikh radiographer colleague of mine was told by a patient "shouldn't you be on a plane back to Pakistan? we voted you out" ????
— Dr. M. Ali Abbasi (@drmaliabbasi) June 26, 2016
Man in Kings X station yells ‘BREXIT’ in my south Asian friend’s face. Within 10 hours of the result I experienced 2 racialised altercations
— kerem (@KeremBrulee) June 25, 2016
This evening my daughter left work in Birmingham and saw group of lads corner a Muslim girl shouting "Get out, we voted leave". Awful times
— Heaven Crawley (@heavencrawley) June 24, 2016
The referendum was widely seen as a rejection by Britons of the EU’s acceptance of immigrants from war-torn regions, including Syria and North Africa. And despite assurances by those who campaigned in favor of Brexit that the vote would not affect EU citizens who already reside legally in the U.K., the vote appears to have emboldened nationalists.
My girlfriend just sent me this photo from #Newcastle. Absolutely unbelievable #BrexitBritain #Brexit #EUref pic.twitter.com/EhA96ZUHSq
— daniel watson (@DWxLW) June 25, 2016
“I’ve spent most of the weekend talking to organizations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying, ‘Look, we voted ‘leave.’ It’s time for you to leave,’” Sayeeda Warsi, former Conservative Party chair, told Sky News. “And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good.”