UK's hate crime spike a 'warning sign' to politicians

"Why are you still here? We voted out." 

These were the words aimed at a Muslim woman in Tower Hamlets, London in the wake of the EU referendum vote.

In post-Brexit Britain that is just one of 174 incidents of anti-Muslim hate crime in the UK recorded since the vote by Tell Mama monitoring group.

"Those kind of comments have specific reference to the Brexit vote. 174 incidents in the period of time since Brexit is clearly a measurable and a discernible spike," Fiyaz Mughal, founder and director of Tell Mama told The New Arab.

Hate crime surge

Figures released by the National Police Chiefs Council are even more shocking.

They show that since Brexit there has been a 42 percent increase in hate crime reports compared to the same period last year.

Between 16-30 June there were 3076 hate crimes and incidents reported to police forces across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The majority of these incidents involve general abuse.

The spike in hate crime reports around the time of the Brexit vote hasn't surprised Fiyaz: "I guess Brexit is one of the buttons which clearly shows that we have a problem in our society, in our communities where prejudice, bigotry and racism for some people is quite normalised."

She says this is a problem, and one the UK has to come to terms with.

"We can no longer say how glorious we are and how good things are with cohesion or how good our race relations are," she said.

"Our organisation have been saying for five years that actually something is happening in our society, and for five years nobody has had the political will and stomach to stand up and tackle some of these issues."
 

Since Brexit there has been a 42 percent increase in hate crime reports compared to the same period last year.

Nick Lowles from the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate agrees. "I think there was something about the specific nature of the referendum campaign which almost knocked a scab off a wound that had been festering for some time," he said.

"We've said we don't think Britain is necessarily a more racist society, but we think it's a much more polarised society as a result of the referendum campaign."
 
In the wake of the referendum campaign there has been unprecedented political upheaval.

The UK has a newly appointed prime minister, Theresa May, and prominent "Leave" campaigner and former Mayor of London Boris Johnson has been appointed British Foreign Secretary.

It's a controversial appointment. Boris Johnson faced serious criticism during the referendum campaign for not speaking out louder against some of the xenophobic comments made by other members of the "Leave" camp.
 
"There should have been strong leadership that made very clear that the confluence, the muddying, and the playing to the xenophobia and fear was wrong and I think that leaders including Boris should have stood up," Fiyaz from Tell Mama said.

Across the country, the referendum result has been used by many as an excuse for racist and anti-Muslim attacks.

Hope Not Hate have launched a campaign around the hashtag #MoreInCommon

A number of London mosques in Finsbury, Tottenham and Leyton were recently the target of an attack where envelopes with white powder and hate messages were sent to them.

Counter-terror police are investigating the incidents.

But communities across the UK are attempting to fight back. Hope Not Hate have launched a campaign around the hashtag #MoreInCommon.

The hashtag emerged after the shocking killing of MP Jo Cox, shot dead outside her constituency office in Yorkshire.

The campaign aims to continue the legacy of her work, which was encapsulated in her inaugural parliamentary speech when she said "we have far more in common than that which divides us".

Nick Lowles said the group's events for August and September aim at "building bridges" and "find ways for very divided communities to talk to one another".

On Tuesday there will be a community cohesion summit in the UK parliament, gathering MPs, religious leaders and members of the community in an attempt to stop the divisive atmosphere in the country escalating further.

"I think the Brexit vote was a shot across the bows," Nick Lowles said.

"[It's] a warning sign for all politicians really that they need to pay attention to what's going on."