Racist violence is on the rise in the UK after the country voted to leave the European Union in June, according to a report by the Council of Europe.
The Strasbourg-based council, a human rights and democracy watchdog body separate from the EU, expressed its concern Tuesday over what it called a rise in “anti-foreigner sentiment.”
In the report, the Council’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) lamented “considerable intolerant political discourse in the UK, particularly focusing on immigration.”
“Terms such as ‘invasions’ and ‘floods’ were frequently used as well as the expression ‘benefits tourism’, despite a 2013 European Commission study finding no evidence that the main motivation of EU citizens to migrate was benefit-related,” the report found.
The report provided evidence that anti-Muslim hate speech targeting women has rocketed online, through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and…