Brexit: Polish Embassy responds after spark in reports of hate crime and racial abuse

The Polish Embassy in London has said it is "shocked and deeply concerned" by reports of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community following the Brexit vote.

Multiple incidents of alleged hate crimes have reported since the Brexit result last week, with claims that immigrants and their descendents are being stopped in the street and "ordered to leave Britain".

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On Sunday, the Polish and Social Cultural Association was vandalised with suspected racist graffiti, prompting an investigation into "racially motivated criminal damage" by the Metropolitan Police. Police have also increased patrols in the area.

Other purported incidents include signs reading ‘Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin’ posted through letter boxes of Polish families and distributed outside primary schools in Cambridgeshire.

Cambridgeshire Police urged people to come forward if they have any information about the source of the notices.

In a statement, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland urged all nationals who fall victim of xenophobic abuse to report such incidents to the police.

"We are shocked and deeply concerned by the recent incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community and other UK residents of migrant heritage,” the statement read.

"The Polish Embassy is in contact with relevant institutions, and local police are already investigating the two most widely reported cases in Hammersmith, London, and Huntingodon, Cambridgeshire.

"We would like to thank for all the messages of support and solidarity with the Polish community expressed by the British public."

The alleged hate crimes come amid warnings by politicians who said there could be an increase in racially motivated incidents following the Brexit announcement.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who switched her allegiance to the Remain campaign over "the lies and hate" she accused the Brexit movement of spreading, said the Leave campaign had left behind "hostility and intolerance".

"I've spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it's time for you to leave," she said in an interview on Sky News.

"And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good."

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he had asked police to be “extra vigilant” for any rise in cases of hate crime, and called on Londoners to “pull together and rally behind this great city".

"It’s really important we stand guard against any rise in hate crimes or abuse by those who might use last week’s referendum as cover to seek to divide us," he said.