Diane Abbott blasts Tories for Brexit hate crime surge following asylum seeker attack

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott believes the Conservative government are to blame for a rise in hate crime since Brexit after an asylum seeker was reportedly assaulted at a bus stop in Croydon at around 11:40 GMT on Friday (March 31).

Six people have been arrested on charges of attempted murder after an unnamed 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian was repeatedly punched while waiting for a bus with friends. He was approached by a group, who allegedly attacked him and left him with a fractured skull and a blot clot on the brain.

Abbott, MP for Hackney and Stoke Newington, noted the worrying rise of hate crimes since the Brexit vote and believes the Tory government have not helped in stemming the tide.

"Sadly this is not an isolated incident but part of a sustained increase in hate crimes that this Tory Government is yet to offer any effective response to.

"With right-wing politicians across the world scapegoating migrants, refugees and others for their economic problems, we are seeing a deeply worrying rise in the politics of hate.

"We must make clear that there is no place for anti-foreigner myths, racism and hate in our society."

The group reportedly kicked the teenager on the pavement and struck blows to his head, leaving him with several injuries that have left him in hospital. His condition is said to be serious but stable.

Detective Sergeant Kris Blamires of Croydon CID believes the group began attacking the boy when they discovered he was an asylum seeker.

"It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack.

"He has sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this assualt, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers."

In February, police figures revealed hate crime rises of up to 100% in some areas in the UK since the Brexit vote. Dorset allegedly suffered the biggest surge of 104 hate-related incidents reported from July to September.