New crackdown on hate crimes online

PLANS to crackdown on online abuse have been welcomed following a surge in hate crimes following the Manchester Arena attack.

Prosecutors will now be told to treat threats and harassment on Facebook and Twitter as seriously as face-to-face abuse under proposed new CPS guidance.

Manchester saw a five-fold spike in reported Islamaphobic incidents in the weeks immediately following the May 22 attack, including vandalism, naming calling on the street, but also online abuse and trolling.

The clampdown has now been welcomed by councillors and community activists in the city - who say it will deter racist and religiouslymotivated abuse.

Amina Lone, a Labour councillor in Hulme - who has been the victim of online abuse - said: “People stuck behind a computer feel confident attacking people with no consequences, when you receive online abuse it’s so common you end up ignoring it. “People have the right to believe and express themselves but when it comes to intimidation, harassment, crime, nobody should be comfortable calling people racist names, the balance has got to be right. Prosecution is that balance.” Describing how she’d suffered from racism but also abuse from some conservative Muslims, Ms Lone said she’d been labelled a ‘s**g’ along with other terms, adding: “It’s so common, you end up ignoring them. “There needs to be a balance between free speech and hate. “It should not be abusive.” Rusholme councillor Rabnawaz Akbar also welcomed the move to treat online hate crimes more seriously. Adding he was having conversations about racist and Islamophobic online abuse on a daily basis, he claimed the new approach would make it easier for law enforcement agencies to take a tough line. He said: “It can be traumatic if you’re a victim of online abuse. “Why should someone be allowed to do it online but not on the street? What becomes a norm when it’s said online, people say it in the streets and it’s accepted”. Rusholme councillor Rabnawaz Akbar