Race hate crimes surge in response to Black Lives Matter protests

RACE hate crimes rose by record levels last year, with the Home Office saying Black Lives Matter and counter-protests partly fuelled the surge.

The number of crimes recorded as race hate offences rose by nearly 12 per cent from 76,158 to 85,268, the biggest increase since records began in 2016-17.

The Home Office report, published yesterday, said police had improved the way the crimes are recorded but that there had also been “short-term genuine rises” in hate crimes last summer. “There was also an increase in public order hate crimes during the summer of 2020 following the widespread Black Lives Matter protests and far-right counter-protests,” it said.

The Black Lives Matter demonstrations were triggered after the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in the US. Some far-right groups responded by protesting under the banner of “white lives matter”, often prompting clashes as they singled out anti-racism demonstrations. The vandalism of statues linked with slavery and colonialism during some BLM protests prompted rallies by people claiming to defend monuments, including one at which police were attacked in London in June last year.

Race hate offences accounted for three quarters of the 115,000 hate crimes recorded in England and Wales last year. They have risen by nearly 45 per cent from 58,294 in 2016-17 at a rate of between six and 11 per cent per year – meaning there are nearly 10 race hate crimes being recorded every hour.

More than half (52 per cent) of the crimes recorded were for public order offences, including threatening and abusing people in public places, 40 per cent were for violence and 5 per cent were criminal damage and arson.

Excluding the 2021 figures from Greater Manchester Police, which was unable to provide data for the year to March 2020 as a comparison, there were 114,958 hate crimes recorded in the year to March 2021 – an annual rise of 9 per cent. Disability-related hate crimes rose by 9 per cent, sexual orientation-related crimes by 7 per cent, and transgender identity-related hate crimes by 3 per cent.

Hate crimes linked to religion were down 18 per cent on the previous year – the second annual fall in a row.

Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said: “The fact that almost three quarters of hate crimes were racially motivated shows just how far is left to go towards building a society that is truly tolerant and anti-racist.”