Bristol hate crime reports spike after Black Lives Matter protests

Police said "racial hate crime continues to feature as the most prominent type of hate crime"

A spike in the reporting of racially-motivated hate crimes has been spurred on by events such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, police have said.

Avon and Somerset Police said the number of race hate crimes reported had risen by 20% in the past eight months.

Hate crime lead Supt Andy Bennett said it suggested people felt "more empowered" to report to the police.

Charity Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) said it had also seen a rise in referrals in the same period.

During the summer many Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests took place across the UK following the death of George Floyd in the US after he was arrested by police in Minneapolis in May.

'Increased confidence'

In Bristol, on 7 June, protesters at an anti-racism demonstration tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the harbour.

Supt Andy Bennett said: "It is very difficult to know whether an increase is actual, or based on an increased confidence or motivation to report without widespread surveying.

"Our sense is that Covid, BLM and other world events have had an impact, and the summer increases represent a mixture of both."

PC Steve Wright joined Avon and Somerset Police 16 years ago and "grew up on the south Bristol council estates during the '70s and '80s".

PC Steve Wright said: "My experiences have equipped me to have a unique insight into what if feels like to be a victim of hate crime and what victims go through."

Mr Wright said: "I am a mixed race man - my father is Jamaican and my mother is white British.

"When I was a boy I would get called names about the colour of my skin which I found upsetting.

"I was 36 when I joined the police and to be honest I just wanted to see if I could make some sort of small difference."

'More empowered'

He said he believed BLM had "given voice to the black community and there was always going to be a reaction from the right of the political spectrum".

Mr Wright said: "Victims are going to feel more empowered in regard to reporting hate crime, feeling that something will be done.

"I don't know if more hate crime is being committed but I do feel that it is getting more exposure in the mainstream media."

He said he felt the media focus had only been about the statue being toppled and "took away from what black people were trying to say".

"Of course who wants to see a statue of a slave trader in the middle of your city?

"But the protests were about the treatment of black people by the establishment - the police, criminal justice system, education.

"But in my view a lot of this was lost in the taking down of Colston's statue. All the media wanted to talk about was the statue and not the issues that were being raised."

PCSO Mo Berber said if people did not report hate crimes, "we won't be able to put an end to it, we need to know"

PCSO Mo Berber said he had signed up to become one of the force's hate crime champions to "combat hate and provide support to those vulnerable victims of hate crime".

He said: "Myself being Egyptian and from the Muslim faith, this itself will remove a lot of barriers, between us as an organisation and under-represented communities."

His mother tongue is Arabic which "enables me to communicate effectively with many communities and nationalities".

Artwork created by primary school children for Create Against Hate

He also worked with the city council on Create Against Hate to show schoolchildren the benefits of diversity and inclusion through play and art.

"So in simple words, it was to make them understand where the hate is coming from and how to identify what is a hate crime and how to challenge it and to reject the hate narratives - it was a very cute project," he said.