Is Brexit cause or effect of rise in hate?
(The Christian Science Monitor) When it succeeded, Britain’s campaign to leave the European Union, called Brexit, shook up a deeply unpopular political order. Its anti-immigration platform appears to resonate with many voters. But a rise in reports of hate crimes may lend merit to fears that the referendum’s outcome could have ugly effects for Britain’s minorities.
A prayer event planned by the British Bangladeshi Cultural Academy in celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, was canceled in Southampton, England, after the BBCA discovered that activists from a far-right anti-immigrant group would converge on the city for a rally.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said that in the week immediately following the Brexit vote on June 23, a U.K. national online hotline had received 331 reports of hate crime incidents, compared to a weekly average of 63 reports.
