Concerns over reported rise in racist incidents since Brexit

  • Meridian
Racist graffiti was daubed next to a war memorial in Portsmouth Credit: ITV Meridian

Activists, police officials and MPs have expressed concern over a reported rise in racist or xenophobic incidents since Friday.

In Portsmouth, anti-Polish graffiti was daubed next to the war memorial in Guildhall Square. The council says it was promptly removed yesterday. Stephen Morgan, a Labour councillor in the city said on Facebook that "racist or xenophobic graffiti will not be tolerated" and that Portsmouth's diversity should instead be celebrated.

In Salisbury, police are investigating a potentially racially-aggravated assault on a Polish woman on Friday night.

Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson says he has been "disturbed by a rise in reports of racially-aggravated and religious incidents across the country since Friday morning".

In Basingstoke, BBC presenter Sima Kotecha was racially abused on Monday. Police say they are investigating.

In Farnborough, a 14 year-old girl was racially abused on Saturday night.

According to the Dorset Race Equality Council, migrants in the area have perceived "an increase hostility from certain members of the community as they go about their daily lives".