Poland calls on UK to protect civilians from hate attacks

Poland has called on Britain to keep European citizens, including Poles, safe from xenophobia, amid a new rise in hate crimes in the United Kingdom following the Brexit vote.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski made the remarks in the country’s capital, Warsaw, on Saturday after talks with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson.

“We’re counting on the British government and authorities responsible for the safety of British and European citizens, including Poles, to prevent the kind of xenophobic acts we’ve seen recently,” Waszczykowski said.

This comes as British police is still investigating last week’s murder of a Pole, who is believed to have been the victim of a hate crime.

Arkadiusz Jozwik, a 40-year-old polish factory worker, was stabbed in the back by an armed gang in the British town of Harlow, northeast London, last Saturday.

The attack apparently happened after the victim and his friends were heard speaking their native language outside a shopping center in Harlow.

Police in Britain arrested six teenagers on suspicion of involvement in the murder; however, the youths are now out of police custody on bail.

The killing has sparked angry reactions from immigrant communities, with hundreds of people, mostly from the Polish community, holding a demonstration in Harlow to pay tributes to the victim.

Some 800,000 Polish nationals are estimated to be living in Britain, accounting for one of the biggest minority groups in the UK.

Xenophobia and hate crimes appear to be on the rise in the UK following a referendum in June, in which the people voted to leave the European Union.

Hate crime is defined as an offense, perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic.

In the June 23 referendum, about 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the EU, while roughly 48 percent of the people voted to stay in the union. More than 17.4 million Britons said the country should leave the bloc just over 16.14 million others favored remaining in the EU.

In the second half of June between 16 and 30, over 3,000 hate crimes and related incidents were reported to security forces across the UK, in what is seen as a 42-percent rise compared to the same period last year.

In another incident on the day the Leave decision was announced, a Polish man suffered “significant injuries” following a “racially aggravated assault” by two men.

The 30-year-old victim was walking in the street as two men approached him and asked if he spoke English, before repeatedly punching and kicking him.

He sustained an eye injury, a fractured cheekbone and substantial bruising to his body, police said.

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