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04th November 2006

City's silent victims of race abuse to speak up

Scores of "hidden" victims of race hate crime are to share their experiences with the police in a bid to tackle the problem in the Capital.

Officers will meet people who have suffered violence, vandalism, graffiti and had abuse shouted at them in the street because of the colour of their skin at a special event tomorrow.

The move is an attempt to reach out to groups who are often too scared of retribution to report the crimes to police.

Organisers of the event, in Wester Hailes, say that race crimes remain an everyday threat to minority groups in the west of Edinburgh - and many keep their experiences bottled up.

One community support worker has described how a teenage girl was brutally beaten on her way home from a night out in the city because she was black - but then refused to even attend hospital because of her fear of police involvement. Police hope the event will help them build a more complete picture of what is happening to many people from ethnic minorities in parts of the Capital.

The event has been organised by the West Edinburgh Multicultural Organisation (Wemo), which works mainly with African, Pakistani, Chinese, Indian and Arabic people, in areas including Wester Hailes, Calder, Sighthill, Broomhouse, Currie and Balerno.

Khalida Hussain, chairman of Wemo, said: "We want to raise the awareness among the black and minority groups in west Edinburgh about the services available and find out if there are any difficulties they've found with the police service.

"Many people are experiencing a lot of problems in terms of social exclusion in the area. Things like vandalism, racism, name-calling, assaults and threats are happening a lot - it's common.

"Often people do not report incidents to police and they don't want police at their door because it can have repercussions for them."

Ijaz Ashraf, a case worker for West Edinburgh Group Against Racism and Harassment Attack (Wegara), says there have been three or four cases of violent race crimes in the past year, while he hears from people who has been intimidated by abuse shouted at them in the street almost once a week.

He told of an 18-year-old black girl who had moved to Calder having previously lived in London. She had been out drinking with a white female friend who was visiting her from London last year and on her way back into Calder she was viciously attacked because of her skin colour, while her friend was untouched.

As she was hit she was told to go back to her own country by the male youth.

It was thought at the time, Mr Ashraf says, that the girl needed hospital treatment for the severe blows she had suffered to her face, but she refused treatment for fear of the police getting involved.

Mr Ashraf said: "Racial harassment is not just a police problem - it's the problem of everyone in the community.

"It's got worse since September 11 and the name calling and violence some people suffer is shocking.

"Most are verbal harassment which is bad but it can be physical things as well.

"It is not acceptable how people are being treated.

"I deal with about 30 people in a year but there will be a lot more people who are victims of this that don't come to me. It's almost an everyday thing.

"The police are doing their job as well as they can, even though they are overstretched but people are too scared of what will happen if they go to them."

Organisers are expecting at least 50 people to turn up for the event, which runs from 4pm at the Greenway Centre in Wester Hailes tomorrow.

People who turn up will be split into groups and will work with several senior police officers in small workshops.

Chief Inspector John Hawkins, who is based at Wester Hailes Police Station, said: "I think that we have developed the service that we give to black, minority and ethnic groups throughout the force and in West Edinburgh.

"I am keen to develop this further and our work with Wemo can help us do that.

"Through the focus and discussion groups, I hope to be able to take away some positive ideas to improve the service we offer to these groups."

Racial attacks in the Lothians have soared by 40 per cent in the last year.

Figures released earlier this year showed that there were a total of 834 reported attacks between April 2005 and March 2006, compared to 593 in the previous year.

And anti-racism groups believe that the real amount of people who are the victim of race hate crimes is much higher because most go unreported.

But police say that the increased number reported means they have been successful in getting victims to report incidents.

There are also fears that last year's London bombings have had a knock-on effect on race crimes in the Lothians, with the number doubling in the two months after the July 7 atrocities.

More than 90 per cent of the racist incidents were verbal, but they also included 30 incidents of threats through letters, graffiti or telephone calls. Another 20 incidents involved the homes being pelted.

Source: The Evening News