Post Brexit, the threat of racial violence cannot be ruled out in the UK

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and former Equality commissioner Trevor Phillips are among those who have expressed concern over the polarisation of Britain after Brexit was announced. Although the incidents are still sporadic and isolated, there is tension on the streets in the UK. The former chairperson of the Conservative Party denounced the escalation of racist incidents and hate crimes, urging Brexit supporters to intervene and put forward a positive vision of a “united” country that is “both stable and secure”. In an alleged racist incident, a group of young men cornered a Muslim girl shouting, “Get out, we voted ‘leave’". Trevor Phillips in his article in The Sunday Times was frighteningly in-your-face about the fallout. He said categorically that the Africans, Caribbeans and Asian communities will face the backlash of Brexit. “I can’t say that every person of colour I know will be feeling quite so confident that they still have a FUTURE in Britain,” he wrote in the column. [caption id=“attachment_2858528” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Long after the political bus moves on we leave problems on our street, said Baroness Warsi. Representational image. AP[/caption] Although it is premature to raise hysteria, the fact that within 72 hours of the controversial result there is this sort of editorialising occurring is a dangerous portent. Often such reports, while well meaning, actually feed the angst. The British mindset is shifting like disturbed tectonic plates and the spectre of racial violence cannot be ruled out. Asianlite comments: “Phillips also alleged that the Brexit camp tactically used ‘Fewer Poles, More Pakistanis’ to divide the communities. Cities with high rate of Pakistani population like Bradford voted in favour of Brexit.” Meanwhile, police started investigating various incidents involving racist messages against the country’s Polish community that appeared after the Brexit win in Thursday’s European Union referendum. “A spokesperson for the London Metropolitan Police said they were looking into the possible origin of xenophobic graffiti found on Hammersmith district’s Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK),” Efe news reported. Baroness Warsi warned that immigrants and their descendants are being stopped in the street and ordered to leave Britain in the wake of the “divisive and xenophobic” Brexit campaign. Whether this was a one-off ugly incident is not confirmed. She was seen on Sky News saying that she wants a “genuine liberal, open-minded outward looking” approach to the political future. The Tory peer has warned that the scars left by the EU referendum campaign can already be seen in the streets of the country, and urged Brexit backers to speak out to reassure the nation. “I also want them to come out and say that the campaigning was divisive and was xenophobic and give a commitment that future campaigning and the way that they intend to run this country will be united, will make people from all backgrounds feel like they belong,” she said. “I’ve spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted ‘Leave’, it’s time for you to leave. “And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good,” she stated. “This is what I said before the campaign — that long after the political bus moves on we leave problems on our street. So it is important for politicians to come out right now, talk about the vision that they have for the country, a united country and then take that forward for a positive vision of this country which is both stable and secure.” Meanwhile, Cambridgeshire Constabulary are examining racist leaflets distributed to residents of Polish descent in the town of Huntingdon, which said: “Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin”. On 16 June, pro-EU Labour MP Jo Cox, 41, was murdered in northern England by a man with alleged neo-Nazi ties, who, during his first court appearance, declared “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”.