The number of hate crimes reported to British police online, including assaults, has increased by more than 500 percent in the week after the country voted to leave the European Union, a senior police chief said on Thursday.
The number of hate crimes reported to police through its online portal -—one of several ways incidents can be reported — was 331 since the vote, compared with a weekly average of 63, said Sara Thornton, chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs' Council.
The increase supports anecdotal evidence of abuse toward Muslims and Eastern Europeans following the referendum, in which concern about immigration drove many people to vote to leave the 28-country EU.