NI Conservatives’ European Election candidate, Mark Brotherston, has urged communities and the police to “work together” to combat race hate crime in Northern Ireland.
“There have been a spate of these disgraceful incidents recently and, unfortunately, the trend seems to be growing”, Mark explained. “It’s clear that the police need to start prosecuting people for attacks of this type and that, in turn, the judiciary needs to send a strong message through sentencing that racism will not be tolerated in Northern Ireland. In order to do that there has to be a clear strategy to tackle this problem, more cooperative relationships between the PSNI and some of the communities in which these crimes are happening.”
“The police have suggested that certain paramilitary and criminal groups have been involved. That cannot be allowed to temper the response. There needs to be a strong and unified message from politicians, determined action from the PSNI, cooperation from the community and a strong message from the courts. This bigotry is shameful to Northern Ireland, it cannot be tolerated and every attempt must be made to get it stop.”