Vote sparks Far Right wave of racist abuse
FAR-RIGHT racists are feared to be taking advantage of the EU referendum result to abuse anyone they suspect of being foreign.
Police said they were investigating disturbing notes posted through letterboxes in Cambridgeshire telling Poles they were ‘vermin’.
And during a rally in support of migrants in Newcastle yesterday, supporters of the old National Front displayed a banner declaring: ‘Stop immigration. Start repatriation.’
A Muslim businesswoman born in Wales was told to ‘pack your bags’ after saying online that the Brexit result left her feeling alienated.
Meanwhile, social media users nationwide reported incidents on the street and public transport in which Eastern Europeans and Muslims were told to leave the country.
Former Cabinet minister Baroness Warsi led the condemnation of the hate crimes, writing on Twitter: ‘This is not the post-Brexit Britain we want to see. Politicians from all sides need to speak out.’
She added the hashtag #moreincommon, created last week as part of the tributes to Labour MP and charity campaigner Jo Cox, who was shot dead on the streets of her West Yorkshire constituency.
The wave of abuse follows fears expressed during the referendum campaign that Leave supporters were whipping up hatred against immigrants rather than focusing on Britain’s membership of the EU.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage unveiled a poster with the slogan ‘Breaking point: The EU has failed us all’ which showed a line of desperate migrants crossing the border into Croatia last year. It was likened to Nazi propaganda and reported to police for allegedly inciting racial hatred.
In the wake of Friday’s result, hate mail was reportedly posted through the doors of residents in Huntingdon, a town in Cambridgeshire where many Eastern Europeans have settled over the past decade.
The laminated cards read: ‘Leave the EU. No more Polish vermin’ on one side. The same message was then translated into Polish on the reverse side.
Several of the cards were discovered outside primary schools in the area. The mother of one boy who saw them contacted police.
The Polish pupil told a local newspaper he felt ‘really sad’ when he read the notes, adding: ‘The teach- ing assistants were picking them up and throwing them away because they thought they were racist.’
Another local resident said one of the cards had been left on her mother’s doorstep, held down by stones so it did not blow away.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said: ‘We have received a report from a member of the public of hate mail that’s been posted through letterboxes of Polish residents.
‘This would constitute a crime and we are investigating it.’
Police said they had stepped up patrols to reassure residents.