Minorities in Britain are feeling increasingly under threat as Nazi stickers and swastikas appear on streets across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s divisive campaign for the White House and Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Jewish children in the north London neighborhood of Stamford Hill were faced with a series of anti-Semitic slurs and swastikas painted on vehicles parked outside a local Jewish girls’ school.
Neighborhood watch group Shomrim shared pictures of the cars and vans, which had been spray painted with the words “f*** off” and had their tires slashed.
“The dedicated Shomrim volunteers work tirelessly to help the police arrest and prosecute offenders,” the group’s senior coordinator Barry Bard said.
“In the past couple of months, our work has successfully resulted in four anti-Semites being convicted in four separate anti-Semitic cases.”
In a similar incident, stickers were found on the streets of Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday reading “Nazi controlled zone.”
The stickers were linked to the white supremacist group National-Action and the case is now under investigation by Merseyside Police.
Local Labour councilor Patrick Hurley branded the stickers “disgusting” and confirmed he had arranged for council staff to remove them “as a matter of urgency.”
“I also went down myself straight from the Remembrance Sunday service at St. George’s Hall to remove some myself. This is not welcome in Liverpool and we must unite against this politics of hate,” he added.
Last September several stickers reading “rapefugees not welcome” were found in the coastal town of South Shields in the north of England. Neo-Nazi group Combat 18 were suspected to be behind the incident. The stickers included a cartoon of a woman being chased by three men with knives. One of the men looks as though he is wearing a thawb, the robe traditionally worn by Muslim men over their clothes.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also spoken out against the nationwide rise in hate crimes. He blamed Brexit, as well as the divisive politics which followed the US election and Donald Trump’s victory.
The recent political upheaval, Khan said at City Hall, showed “how politics is becoming more and more polarized with whole communities in cities across the world feeling increasingly disconnected and estranged from national politics.”
“That’s why now, more than ever, we need to build a strong sense of social solidarity within our cities - a renewed sense that we are united as neighbors and citizens. We need to see real leadership in cities across around the world if we are to avoid communities becoming increasingly divided,” he added.
“Promoting social integration means ensuring that people of different faiths, ethnicities, social backgrounds and generations don't just tolerate one another or live side-by-side, but actually meet and mix with one another and forge relationships as friends and neighbors, as well as citizens. We know that when this happens, trust grows, communities flourish and become more productive, healthier and, ultimately, more prosperous for everyone.”
Racial and religiously-fueled hate crimes saw a sharp rise in the weeks following the referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Incidents recorded by police forces in England and Wales alone saw a 41 percent jump this July compared to the same period in 2015.