This year there has been at least a 20% increase in the number of such incidents reported in the British national and local media in comparison to the previous year – 2007, as evidenced by the list of reported incidents below.
We are aware that many of these incidents occur because of growing tension in the traditional indigenous population following increasing anxiety about job losses. While the Polish workforce has proved to be highly flexible and some 300,000 appear to have left the country now as the economic situation deteriorates, a large number who still have jobs are staying, particularly if they have their families here as well. The stress from the recession is affecting everybody, both the traditional white population in the UK and the various ethnic minorities that have either been established here over many generations or that have arrived more recently. We share to some extent the concerns raised last year by Mr Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, about a new possible “race cold war” between the different communities.
That is why we urge the Government, the police and the local authorities to take appropriate measures to counter this, including our six proposals which appear in the last paragraph.
Here is a list of 60 UK press reports on a growing number of anti-Polish incidents in the UK:-
1/ The Guardian 05-01-08 - Householder in Salford threatened to “Get them Polish out of your
house or I'll burn it down”
2/ Edinburgh News 08-01-08 - New police probe urged into “sinister” death of Polish engineer
found in alleyway in Cowgate
3/ Lancashire Evening Post 08-01-08 – Polish woman pub employee in Blackpool assaulted and
called “a Polish cow” and told “Get back to your own country”
4/ BBC News 10-01-08 - Bus passenger in Dalkieth, Scotland, fined in court for head-butting
Polish bus driver and for using racist abuse
5/ Fife Free Press 20-02-08 - Report states that 25% of Poles in Scotland experienced verbal abuse because
of their nationality and 5% experienced physical assault
6/ Portadown Times 27-02-08 - Police announce increase in patrols in Kilcomayne after 2 Polish
boys attacked by 2 other youths
7/ Scotsman – 29-02-08 - Glasgow High Court sentences 19 year old thug for killing a Hungarian
driver and boasting “I have just killed a Pole”
8/ Evesham Journal – 06-03-08 - Polish worker had concrete block thrown through his caravan
window in “racially motivated attack”
9/ The Press, Selby - 06-03-08 - British soldier accused of “racially motivated attack” on Polish
man in Selby Town Centre
10/ Farmers Weekly – 17-03-08 - 13 gangmasters in Spalding and Boston area under investigation
for exploiting and bullying Poles and other migrants
11/ Shropshire Star - 19-03-08 - Home of Polish family in Shrewsbury set alight and daubed with
racist symbols
12/ This is Wiltshire - 24-03-08 – Serious outbreak of anti-Polish graffiti in Trowbridge
13/ Sunderland Echo – 25-03-08 - Turkish man driven by racial abuse into a suicide attempt after
being accused of being Iraqi or Polish
14/ News & Star - 25-03-08 - 31 year old Pole stabbed by a Kurd in Carlisle on Good Friday
15/ Daily Post – 04-04-08 - Killer of Pole in Wrexham who is “sick of Polish immigrants”
failed to get his jail term reduced at London's Criminal Appeal Court
16/ ThisisPlymouth 10-04-08 - Polish taxi driver needed 12 stitches after attack by 2 thugs
shouting “cut him!”
17/ Daily Record - 17-04-08 - Three racist thugs beat up Pole in Edinburgh and one films part of
attack on his mobile phone
18/ Wiltshire Times – 20-04-08 – Polish delicatessen in Trowbridge suffered criminal damage from
racist attack by 3 teenagers
19/ Evening Telegraph – 20-04-08 – School governing body suspended because it failed to protect
Polish children from bullying in Peterborough
20/ Evening Leader – 23-04-08 - Teenage girl convicted of racially motivated harassment of a
Polish family in Wrexham
21/ This is Cornwall – 07-05-08 - Report on mysterious damage to Polish shop
22/ Blackpool Gazette – 16-05-08 – Woman fined for ethnic abuse of Ukrainian shopkeeper whom
she accused of being Polish
23/ BBC News – 27-05-08 - Two Polish men assaulted in racist attack in Newent, Goucestershire
24/ Wales on Line – 25-05-08 – Facebook refuses to act against Facebook group “Get the Poles out
of Llanelli” with 148 members
25/ Ealing Times – 26-05-08 - Racial conflict at school in Acton between Polish and Somali kids
26/ Sunday Mail – 25-05-08 - Racist thug jailed for assaulting a Polish man in Hawick Scotland
27/ Swindon Advertiser – 14-07-08 – British man and Polish wife abused by a man kicking their
garden gate and threatening to kill them
28/ Edinburgh Evening News – 03-06-08 – 19 month jail sentence for racially aggravated physical
assault on Polish waiter in Edinburgh
29/ Glasgow Herald – 03-06-08 - Polish Muslim awarded ₤22,000 compensation for racial abuse
while working for Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox Park Stadium
30/ Harrow Times - 07-06-08 - Teenager charged for taking part in a gang killing of a Polish tramp
31/ Swindon Advertiser – 14-07-08 – Three Polish men warned by judge in Swindon not to respond
physically in future to racist abuse
32/ This is Wiltshire – 11-08-08 – Polish man bruised by 19 year old youth in Trowbridge
33/ Liverpool Echo – 13-08-08 – Racism suspected in cause of fire in Polish house in Anfield
34/ Wiltshire Times – 15-08-08 – Judge warns 21 year old man he could face jail sentence for
kicking a Polish man 5 times in Warminster
35/ Press & Journal – 28-08-08 – Polish man in hospital after city centre knife incident in Aberdeen
36/ Nottingham Evening Post – 04-09-08 – Polish workers punched and kicked by racist mob in
Ilkeston
37/ Hamilton Adviser – 04-09-08 – Polish man punched and permanently disfigured by “Hamilton
thug”
38/ Evening Telegraph – 16-09-08 – Polish man had his ear slashed during incident with two men
in a Corby pub
39/ Fenland Citizen – 17-09-08 - Polish man found murdered by canal side in Peterborough – two
Lithuanians charged
40/ Burnley Express – 18-09-08 – Police investigation into Polish house set ablaze in Burnley
41/ Hereford Times – 19-09-08 – Illiterate racists left anti-Polish graffiti by River Wye in Hereford
42/ Newtownabbey Times – 24-09-08 – Polish families in Rathcoole driven out by racist threats
43/ Express & Star - 07-10-08 - 3 Polish men hospitalized after racially aggravated assault by 20
youths in Kidderminster
44/ Warrington Guardian – 12-10-08 – Two racist thugs jailed for verbal and physical assault on a
Polish man in Warrington
45/ Swansea Evening Post – 17-10-08 – Police suspect racism in attempt to force Polish man out of
caravan home after explosive gas canisters set alight on his doorstep
46/ Lurgan Mail – 23-10-08 – anti-Polish graffiti and paint-bomb attacks on a house rented by Poles
in Mournview Estate in Lurgan
47/ Hornsey & Crouch End Journal – 30-10-08 – Council fears over persistent anti-Polish street
graffiti
48/ Northampton Chronicle – 10-11-08 – Polish man sustained fractured skull in racist attack by 4
men in Kettering
49/ Louth Leader - 10-11-08 - Butlins employee hits Polish co-worker in the face after yelling “Go
back to Poland”
50/ Yorkshire Post – 12-11-08 – Court finds that Polish woman was strangled in Leeds by Iraqi who
objected to her nationality and religion
51/ The Voice – 11-11-08 – 2 Polish bin men accuse black actor in Brent of attacking them with a
knife and racial abuse when they failed to collect his rubbish
52/ Bradford Telegraph & Argus – 13-11-08 – Teenager attacked Polish man in Bradford with brick
53/ Croydon Guardian – 13-11-08 – 43 stitches for 2 Poles on night bus in Kingston after bottle
attack by two men
54/ Linlithgow Gazette – 14-11-08 – Polish family forced to close food store in Bo'ness, Scotland
after suffering racist graffiti and break ins
55/ Inverness Courier – 18-11-08 – Highland police report increase in racist incidents against
Eastern Europeans
56/ Chad. Co.uk – 27-11-08 – Drunk man in Mansfield has court appearance for ramming wheelie
bin against door of Polish man and making racist comments
57/ Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser – 10-12-08 – Polish brothers attacked with flammable liquid in
assault by 10 youths in Airdrie
58/ Bristol Evening Post – 17-12-08 – Police claim that Asian gang attack on Pole in Bristol is
racially motivated
59/ BBC News Channel – 19-12-08 – Welsh court jails man for a year for punching and racially
abusing a Polish man waiting for an Irish ferry in Caernarfon
60/ Grimsby Telegraph – 29-12-08 – Owner of Trentside Fisheries announces he will impose illegal
ban on Eastern Europeans entering his property.
The above list does not include any incidents which were motivated by other causes, e.g. burglaries, sexual crimes, road accidents or domestic incidents.
However it does show that the spread of new anti-Polish incidents covers all parts of the United Kingdom, namely, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The influx of some 1 million Poles into this country in the last 4 years appears to have been largely beneficial to the British economy as Poles filled the gaps in job vacancies which the indigenous population had not been able to fill. The inevitable social costs of their presence on education, the health service and on the police had been more than offset by their contribution to the economy and the exchequer. The recent Polish arrivals appear to have been largely law abiding and had registered with the Worker Registration Scheme in order to work and pay taxes nationally and locally.
Many of the Poles who arrived here after 2004 have had to adjust themselves to the reality of a multi-ethnic society in the big cities and this has sometimes been a slow learning process, especially if they came from smaller provincial towns in Poland which are largely mono-ethnic. They were helped by the welcome they have received from British charitable institutions, schools, health trusts, police authorities and local government organisations as well as by the existing British spirit of tolerance that has given Britain's metropolitan areas their economic dynamism and social cohesion. Where the newcomers have learned the English language sufficiently, then their positive work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to integrate had been appreciated and helped them in making that adjustment during the recent period of economic growth.
In the more rural areas of the United Kingdom this adjustment had not always been so easy, despite the efforts of local authorities. It is noticeable that more than 70% of the incidents in the above list have occurred in smaller towns. A recent report by Business in the Community on the impact of migrant workers on rural communities has stated that “while migrants bring a number of benefits, such as raising economic output and filling labour shortages and skill gaps, they also pose a number of challenges ... on community cohesion and the provision of adequate housing and services”. A recent survey in Yorkshire by Hull University staff has described “an infrastructure that cannot cope with the new arrivals, where few statistics are collected and where exploitation runs rife.”
Much of the tension in the smaller towns comes from the high visibility of a large number of Polish workers employed in agriculture, construction or the hotel industry. These areas had not usually had to experience such a large concerted influx of people from abroad at once. Many of the Poles in the country areas have a rural background themselves and have had little opportunity to learn English, either in Poland, or after their arrival in the UK. They often live in squalor in isolated Polish communities, vulnerable to exploitation by landlords and employers and subject to occasional outbursts of local panic, which had been stirred up by negative stories about Poles and other Central Europeans in certain national newspapers. There is often resentment at the high cost of interpreting for them in their contact with schools, hospitals, the police and the magistrates’ courts. There are also exaggerated scare stories about Polish workers claiming benefits, swamping local hospital services and council house provision or still working at rates of pay which undermined the wage levels of indigenous workers. The difficulty of integrating these rural communities has now been aggravated further by the economic crisis.
We propose that the Government should introduce six measures which should minimise the risk of future inter-community tension:-
1/ provide appropriate independent statistics on how many citizens from the 8 EU accession states are living in each district and in which the public and local authorities can have sufficient confidence as a trustworthy record,
2/ ensure that the programme for free English language lessons for EU citizens is made more widely available, including the provision of lessons at places of work,
3/ encourage further recruitment of Polish-speaking staff by local services, including the police, in order to facilitate communications with Polish families and ensure that the excessive costs of interpreters and translators are kept low,
4/ ensure proper licensing and monitoring of employers and gangmasters, especially in the construction and hospitality sectors, similar to that already operating effectively in agriculture and food industries,
5/ empower local housing authorities to enforce proper housing conditions and tenancy terms for Polish and other A8 workers in the private sector, especially in non-metropolitan areas, and encourage companies to provide housing provision more integrated with the indigenous population,
6/ local health trusts should organise registration drives to ensure that all EU citizens living in their area have the opportunity to register with a local doctor or health clinic.
Wiktor Moszczyński, Spokesperson,
Federation of Poles in Great Britain. Mobile 07711912188
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