Hate crime rise in city fuelling fear and anxiety

HATE crime based on race or religion in Bristol increased by 6.3 per cent in the last 12 months.

- ADAM POSTANS Local Democracy Reporter

And community leaders have voiced concerns that many people are starting to change how they live their lives because of the fear of being harassed in the street amid a growing sense of “anxiety”.

Earlier this month, in the latest unrest between mass immigration protesters and anti-racism counter-demonstrators in the city centre, police battled to keep the two rival groups apart as they gathered on College Green.

The anti-immigration campaigners had marched through the city and huge lines of police were deployed but there were still a number of clashes.

The issue was the focus of Avon & Somerset police and crime commissioner Clare Moody's monthly Police Question Time session with Chief Constable Sarah Crew, which this time also included Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) CEO Alex Raikes and Easton-based Bridges for Communities managing director Dan Green whose organisations work to foster community cohesion.

Avon & Somerset Police’s top officer Chief Constable Crew said: “Hate crime can have a hugely traumatic and corrosive effect not just on the individual but on the community and how society operates.