After Thursday's referendum on a "Brexit," a wave of racist incidents have been reported to British police and documented in widely shared social media posts. Through the weekend, #Postrefracism has been trending, and its contents provide a disheartening view of how Britain's vote to leave the European Union may be emboldening those who harbor virulent racist sentiments.
Police in west London were
investigating what they called a "racially motivated" attack against the Polish Social and Cultural Association. Poles make up the largest foreign-born population in the United Kingdom. The organization's building was apparently defaced with graffiti that said, "Go home."
In Cambridgeshire,
leaflets were apparently distributed with “Leave the EU/No more Polish vermin” written in both English and Polish.
[The uncomfortable question: Was the Brexit vote based on racism?]
What happens next after Britain votes for a Brexit from the E.U.
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In a stunning victory for the "Leave" campaign, Britain has voted to exit the European Union. Here's what happens next. (Jason Aldag,Adam Taylor/The Washington Post)
Those campaigning for a Brexit offered clear assurances that a new immigration system would not affect E.U. citizens already living in Britain: “There will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK,” the campaign noted on its website. But despite the assurances, many immigrants to Britain are
unsure of their future.
Racism isn't exactly an unexpected outcome of the victory for the Brexit camp at the polls, either. Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) and the most hard-line proponent of a Brexit, has spoken of the "
n----- vote" and told reporters that he would use
a racist slang term to refer to Chinese restaurants. But he and other "Brexiteers" have said that their concerns are about increasing immigration flows perceived as coming at the expense of the British-born and have nothing to do with prejudice.
Britain's massively popular tabloids have done little to calm the public's nerves over immigration, often resorting to blatant scaremongering and race-baiting. Below is a compilation of dozens of tabloid fronts doing so.
View image on Twitter
Follow
Kim Ghattas
✔@BBCKimGhattas
Visual reminder of how immigration played in Leave camp narrative.34 front pages this yr compiled by
@gameoldgirl
8:23 AM - 26 Jun 2016
The message of most of the attacks that have been reported since Friday seems to be simple: A victory for the Brexit camp should herald the repatriation of all non-white, non-Anglo-Saxons in the U.K. Never mind that the official campaign pushing for a Brexit expressly eschewed that sentiment.
What follows is a harrowing sampling of Twitter posts detailing specific incidents.
Follow
Jamie Pohotsky @jamiepohotsky
"Table next to me says to Polish waitress "How come you're so cheerful? You're going home." Him and the missus started laughing." Disgusting
9:12 AM - 24 Jun 2016
Follow
Dr. M. Ali Abbasi @drmaliabbasi
Last night a Sikh radiographer colleague of mine was told by a patient "shouldn't you be on a plane back to Pakistan? we voted you out"
4:43 AM - 26 Jun 2016
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kerem @KeremBrulee
Men chanting 'OUT OUT OUT' @ Muslim women in Brockley. Woman in an Enfield bank shouting 'this is England we're white get out of my country'
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kerem @KeremBrulee
Man in Kings X station yells ‘BREXIT’ in my south Asian friend’s face. Within 10 hours of the result I experienced 2 racialised altercations
12:56 PM - 25 Jun 2016
View image on Twitter
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Jim Waterson
✔@jimwaterson
Picture from Romford today. (Photo with permission from the must-follow
@diamondgeezer)
9:51 AM - 25 Jun 2016
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James Titcombe @JamesTitcombe
Daughter tells me someone wrote "[Child's name] go back to Romania" on the wall in the girls toilets at School today.
11:49 AM - 24 Jun 2016
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ChannyAmos @Channy_Amos
Disgusting RT @fionaand: Older woman on the 134 bus gleefully telling a young Polish woman and her baby to get off and get packing.Horrific.
7:33 AM - 25 Jun 2016
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