UK: Rise in post-Brexit hate attacks condemned

LONDON

A British opposition lawmaker condemned on Monday the rise in suspected hate attacks across the country following this summer’s referendum decision to leave the European Union.

Stuart Donaldson, a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said the attacks were “the very worst product” of the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union by a 52-48 percent margin in a referendum on June 23.

Reports of suspected hate crimes rose sharply in the U.K. in the immediate aftermath of the vote, with hundreds of people reporting cases of verbal abuse, harassment and violence.

Donaldson’s comments were in response to newspaper reports that EU member-state embassies based in the U.K. had logged dozens of abuse cases since the vote for Brexit.

The Guardian newspaper reported that incidents included an arson attack on a Romanian shop and a break-in at the home of a Latvian family.

The vast majority of the cases involved Polish nationals, including eight attacks in the past three weeks, the newspaper reported.

One man, Arkadiusz Jozwik, died of head injuries after being assaulted in the eastern English town of Harlow in late August.

“Politicians and those across public life all have a responsibility to condemn these vile acts and to discourage any kind of racially-motivated behavior,” Donaldson said in a statement on Monday.

He also criticized the U.K. government for failing to protect the rights of EU citizens living in Britain, saying Prime Minister Theresa May had “only exacerbated the uncertainty felt by many EU citizens living in the UK and have failed to condemn these appalling attacks”.

The SNP, which is the third-largest party in the House of Commons, has renewed calls for Scottish independence after Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but was outvoted by people living elsewhere in the U.K.