Greens' deputy leader tells of racist attack on his family

The newly elected deputy leader of the Green party and his family were attacked on a day out at the seaside last week, with bottles thrown and racist abuse hurled, he has said.

- Harriet Sherwood

Mothin Ali, a Leeds councillor, told the Guardian the incident was a reflection of extreme rightwingers using inflammatory language to blame immigrants and refugees.

Ali, who was born in Sheffield and has lived in Yorkshire all his life, was on the beach at Cromer, in Norfolk, with his mother, wife and children when a group appeared.

"It was a lovely sunny day. I'd been building sandcastles and catching shrimps in rockpools with my six-year-old. Suddenly there were these people throwing beer bottles at us, and shouting 'Get out of our country' and 'Pakibastards'. Then one of them decided to pull his trousers down."

He recounted the incident as an example of how Reform UK and other rightwing activists have increasingly ramped up anti-minority rhetoric over recent months.

"Reform UK offers simple 'solutions' to extremely complex problems - blame immigrants, blame black and brown people, blame Muslims," he said. "The language is incredibly inflammatory. It's language that is designed to stir up hate."