Brexit: Fears of rising xenophobia in United Kingdom as people call out #PostRefRacism

Updated

There has been a surge in racial abuse in the United Kingdom following its landmark decision to leave the European Union.

The UK voted 52 to 48 per cent to exit the bloc on Friday, with 17.4 million people voting Leave and 16.1 million people voting Remain.

Immigration was a key concern for many, with locals worried about the rising number of immigrants settling in Britain and putting pressure on social services and increasing competition for jobs.

But now there are fears the Leave vote has served to validate and vindicate racist views, as a growing number of people report incidents of racial harassment in the wake of the vote.

On social media, people are using the hashtag #PostRefRacism to share their encounters.

Stories tell of people singing "make Britain white again", protesting outside mosques and yelling "Brexit" and "go home" in the faces of foreigners on the street.

After being harassed at a student bar, London resident Karissa Singh set up a Facebook page and Twitter account to document and draw attention to the issue.

"On the Friday following Brexit my brother and I were harassed by a middle-aged white man, who approached us while we were having a drink to tell us that 'we would never be true British', and that 'he didn't care if we were here to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever, just go back and do it in your own country'," she said.

"This was in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, in a fairly crowded student bar.

"Following this, I heard from several friends who had experienced similar incidents of racism — direct, unashamed and almost righteous in its expression.

"I decided to set up a space to document these aggressions, to combat their normalisation, and encourage people to call out such incidents."

Ms Singh, who until recently worked in Bolivia as a human rights activist, voted to remain in the EU and said she was very disappointed with the result.

She said all ethnic groups in the UK were reporting being affected by the racism.

"South Asian, Asian, Polish, Black other Europeans — basically anyone who doesn't pass the ridiculous 'British for generations' test," she said.

"There have even been cases of violent assault, vandalism, and group intimidation. The police have been involved in several cases."

'No more Polish vermin'

In some areas, residents have reported finding laminated cards with the words "Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin" in letterboxes.

The Polish Embassy in London released a statement yesterday, saying it was "shocked and deeply concerned".

"We are shocked and deeply concerned by the recent incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community and other UK residents of migrant heritage," the statement read.

"We call on all Polish nationals who fall victim of xenophobic abuse and on all witnesses to report such incidents to local authorities."

The racial hatred has not gone unnoticed in the British Parliament.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the intimidation of migrants at a press conference on Monday morning (local time), saying the UK would not tolerate intolerance.

Topics: race-relations, community-and-society, united-kingdom, european-union

First posted