Credit: Shulem Stern/ViralHog
A video of a man hurling racial abuse at a taxi driver in East London a day after the Brexit vote has emerged, one of a wave of reported racist incidents across the country since June 23.
The short clip which was uploaded to YouTube showed a man walking towards an Asian minicab driver after a heated argument, shouting “f*cking foreigner, go back to your country”.
The incident reportedly happened on Friday June 24 at 10am around the Leaside Road and Theydon Road junction in Hackney.
Shulem Stern, who witnessed and filmed the encounter said that he informed a passing police officer of what had happened, but the victim refused to press any charges regarding the incident.
The Metropolitan Police are still waiting for more information from the officer who was at the scene.
Suresh Grover, director at The Monitoring Group, a charity against racism, told EastLondonLines that members of the organisation were in Hackney on Friday and yesterday.
It has been trying trying to locate the victim and speak to him in regards what happened on Friday.
He said that locals have expressed their fear of what might happen, following this situation, whether it will give rise to more incidents.
“We are in a very dangerous period”, Grover added.
The Monitoring has been working locally in Hackney since April providing specialist advice for racial violence and taking cases up and pushing for police to take action.
The group is currently in process of organising a meeting in Hackney where the London Mayor Sadiq Khan can talk to locals of what can be done to eliminate fear and deal with this problem.
Local members of parliament will be invited to take part in that meeting too.
Another incident had occurred in Lewisham yesterday where a picture was posted on social media showing the windows of a Spanish and Turkish restaurant smashed.
Police officers were called to the scene on Monday morning after the restaurant’s staff discovered the damage.
Many have suspected that this was based on a race and had a link to the EU Referendum results.
However, a spokesperson for Metropolitan Police told EastLondonLines that “this incident is being treated as a burglary and not a hate crime.”
National Police Chief’s Council has stated that reports of hate crimes have seen an increase of 57 per cent in the past few days.
Reporting to True Vision, a hate crime reporting police funded site, had around 85 reports made in the four-days period between June 23 and June 26.
This was higher compared to the figures from a month ago, which was approximately 54 reports.
Following the wave of hate crimes, Sadiq Khan said: “As Mayor, I take seriously my responsibility to defend London’s fantastic mix of diversity and tolerance.
“So it’s really important we stand guard against any rise in hate crimes or abuse by those who might use last week’s referendum as cover to seek to divide us.
“I’ve asked our police to be extra vigilant for any rise in cases of hate crime, and I’m calling on all Londoners to pull together and rally behind this great city.”
Stop Hate UK, an anti hate and discrimination charity, issued a statement saying it is “sad” to hear people “feeling safe in the UK and feeling isolated, vulnerable and genuinely scared to be here.”
“The vote on Thursday should not be seen and used, as a vehicle to engender Hate.”
Hate crimes can be reported through 999 in an emergency, 101 in a non-emergency or community groups such as True Vision, Stop Hate UK or The Monitoring.
