'My girl, 3, was target of anti-immigration rant'

Beth wants other people to speak up about hate crimes

A three-year-old girl of mixed heritage was the target of an anti-immigration rant, her mum has said.

Beth said her daughter was playing in Yate, near Bristol, when a man allegedly told her child she was "the problem with this country".

Beth said she believed the comments were meant to make her daughter "feel excluded and scared" and she thought directing the words at a child was "an ill-use of free speech".

Supt Deepak Kenth, of Avon and Somerset Police, said "tension and anxiety in our communities is real" and he wanted members of the public to report hate crime incidents.

Beth said she was with her mother when the incident happened.

"My mum and I stopped and what he went into was massive hate-filled racial abuse and speech about how 'that' - gesturing towards my daughter - is the problem with this country.

"But to use it in that context, his sole purpose was to victimise a child, and I'm worried somebody feels able to voice their views and misguided information towards somebody to make them feel excluded and scared," she said.

Beth said she and her husband of 10 years, who is from Zimbabwe, had heard microaggressions before, but "the level of outwardness is new".

"It saddens me that he [the man] felt emboldened in the culture we're in at the moment to say that," she added.

In a video posted on social media, she called for union and St George flags - which have spread across the UK in recent months - to be taken down.

Some say the flags represent pride in being British, but others are concerned they are linked to feelings of anti-immigration.

Beth said she would be reporting the incident with her daughter to police.

Supt Deepak Kenth says he wants people to report hate crimes to officers

Supt Kenth said reporting incidents helped police "collect the data to see where the hotspots are, who's responsible and even prevent something more serious from occurring".

Supt Kenth, who said he was of British Asian heritage, added: "This is my 23rd year in policing, I see it from both sides.

"That's why it's vitally important, especially for us as a police service, local authority and partners to stand together and make a statement to say we will not let individuals or a small minority divide our community.

"Bristol always stands up when we have these issues and I think that time comes again."

He added: "In a city in 2025, we've got to make sure everybody can live peacefully, respectfully and with tolerance."