Many fear a surge in hate crime once lockdown is over – the government has to step up and help

Abuse, particularly online, has unfortunately been a significant factor during our time in isolation – we have to make sure people feel safe

Those watching direct abusers through online livestreaming services (iStock)

A wave of hate could spill over from online echo chambers back into our communities after the coronavirus lockdown.

The prime minister will review the lockdown today, but any increase in our freedom sadly comes with the risk of a rebound in hate crime. A recent Home Affairs Select Committee session heard that Facebook had deleted 9.6 million hate speech posts in the first quarter of 2020.

Surely, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Community Security Trust, Stop Hate UK and Tell Mama UK have all raised concerns about closed online groups mobilising to incite hatred and violence against communities who are becoming Covid-19 scapegoats.

Before lockdown, blame for coronavirus was already being directed at the British Chinese, East Asian, Muslim, Jewish and LGBT+ communities. Chinese and East Asian people in the UK endured physical and verbal attacks, Muslims were accused of ignoring lockdown and spreading the virus by visiting mosques, and vile antisemitic conspiracy theories blamed Jews for engineering the virus and deliberately causing the spread.

Same sex couples were accused of flouting social distancing rules and verbally abused with references to the AIDS epidemic and claims of Covid-19 as a “punishment” from God.

Tell Mama UK and Stop Hate UK both experienced an increase in anti-Chinese hate crime reports before lockdown, but also fear there is huge under-reporting. UK police forces also report a threefold increase in anti-Chinese hate crime offences compared with the first three months of 2019. Scapegoating has swiftly moved to online hate speech perpetuated by far-right groups.

Lockdown was an opportunity for the government to gain some ground with counter-messaging to support ethnic, religious and LGBT+ communities living in fear. The government’s “Don’t Feed the Beast” campaign only focuses on stopping the spread of misinformation about Covid-19, not hate speech. This void allowed hateful sentiment to fester and it now dangerously bubbles under. The UN Chief, Antonio Guterres warned of a ‘tsunami of hate and xenophobia’. Tell Mama UK, Community Security Trust, Stop Hate UK, Hope Not Hate and Galop, all services supporting victims of hate crimes, told me they fear online abuse will escalate to more violence against individuals and attacks on places of worship post-lockdown.

The shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, asked the home secretary for the statistics on hate crime incidents against the UK Chinese community and what steps the government were taking to prevent this abuse. I too put questions to Priti Patel about her department’s work in tackling hate crime during the coronavirus crisis. The replies highlight a lack of clear data on hate crimes, and a slow response and failure to plan that are now so typical of this government.

The repeated response is that they encourage reporting of hate crime and ask that police reassure communities – no mention of proactive prevention. The government’s Hate Crime Action Plan effectively expired this month. It seems they’ve run out of ideas because they offer up no plans for what to do next. In well over a year since the Home Office announced a fund to provide security training for places of worship, it seems that Kit Malthouse, minister for crime and policing, can’t give details of any of the £5million fund being spent. The government’s Faith, Race and Hate Crime Grant Scheme of £1.5million to promote inter-faith and community work will only reach organisations from July.

Support services for victims of hate crime predict being overwhelmed when lockdown is released. Galop say a funded advice line to support the LGBT+ community is urgently needed. Tell Mama UK told me that funding issues experienced by the charitable sector, will compound the struggles of anti-hate crime organisations as they try to keep up with an increased demand on their services post lockdown.

It is easy to understand that some people will look for someone to blame over the coronavirus pandemic. This is aggravated when there is personal grief, suffering and isolation.

When these vulnerabilities are preyed upon by the far-right and translate into online hate-speech and abuse, social media platforms have a responsibility to intervene. The larger social media platforms have already proven they can intervene when they want to. Time that could have been used by the government to counter online hate speech, and to put more pressure on social media platforms has been squandered.

However, it is never too late for the government to back up communities living in fear and to act on the calls of experienced organisations who know what is needed to combat hate crime.

Bambos Charalambous is the shadow Home Office minister for courts and crime prevention and the Labour MP for Enfield Southgate