Local Editor

Since the Leave camp won the Brexit vote a week ago, there has been a staggering fivefold increase in hate crimes reported to a national website, UK police said. Local officials also noted a surge in both physical and verbal attacks on migrants.

"Since last Thursday, 331 hate crime incidents have been reported to the national online reporting site True Vision compared to the weekly average of 63 reports," Sara Thornton, head of the National Police Chief's Council, wrote.

"Although many people are reporting hate crime than ever before, it remains significantly under reported."

While Thornton stressed that it is hard to tell how many of those cases are directly linked to the referendum, the national community tensions team also noted a surge in anti-immigrant abuse.

In just one week, migrants reported "verbal abuse, negative social media commentary including xenophobic language, anti-migrant leafleting and, in very limited numbers, physical assaults."

Meanwhile, the police report came in line with reports from social media where multiple cases of online abuse have been documented since the vote. Dozens of people posted evidence of hatred and racism under the hashtag #PostRefRacism, which was coined immediately after the Leave camp's victory was officially announced.

Migrants from the Muslim world and Eastern Europe, particularly those from Poland and Romania, appear to be the most likely targets of abuse.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team