This is the third consecutive year we have witnessed an escalation of racist violence, intimidation and hatred. We’ve seen racialised people being attacked on the street, homes burned to the ground, children forced to flee in the middle of the night, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship vandalised, violent gatherings outside of residences believed to house people seeking asylum and much more. Levels of racist violence and intimidation that were once considered extreme are now becoming weekly occurrences across the UK – and the response of successive UK governments has been woefully inadequate.

The racist intimidation and hostility seen this weekend all over the UK – primarily targeting those seeking asylum – is where the UK government must draw a line. It is clear that those organising and spearheading these attacks, riots and gatherings are deliberately seeking to create a threatening and intimidating atmosphere for racialised and minoritised communities. We are now at a point where people are fearful to take public transport, send their children to school, pray or just generally go about their daily lives. It should never have been allowed to get to this point.

These events – as with those we’ve seen previously – are not isolated incidents. As the Runnymede Trust highlighted in their recent open letter to the Prime Minister, they reflect the consequences of years of growing inequality, underinvestment in communities and public services, and political and media narratives that have normalised racism, anti-migrant sentiment and Islamophobia, including the weaponisation of violence against women and girls to stigmatise entire communities rather than address the root causes of gender-based violence. Too many people now feel less safe and less confident in our shared future.

It is time for the UK government to listen to the concerns of racialised and minoritised communities. It is time for the UK government and national authorities to do more to hold individuals and companies who play a role in spreading misinformation, inciting hatred and promoting violence to account.

We call on the UK government to act with the urgency that is required and take concrete steps to put a stop to escalating racist violence and intimidation. The UK government must tackle the dangerous cycle of political narratives that are repeated through megaphones by those emboldened to enact violence on our streets. Our political leaders must work with impacted people and communities to ensure their rights are protected and no one is forced to live in fear due to their religion, ethnicity, immigration status or skin colour.

It is time for the UK government to draw a line and take action.

Signed by organisations including:

ActionAid UK

Aegis the Union

African Rainbow Family

Alliance for Police Accountability

Amos Trust

Artists’ Union England

ASAP

Ashaadibi Centre

ASLEF Waterloo Nine Elms Branch

Association of Filipino Domestic Workers

Aziziye Mosque

Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union

BARAC UK

Bengali East End Heritage Society

Better Story

Beyond Skin

Black Equity Organisation

Body & Soul

Bridging Change

Bridport Refugee Support Campaign

Business Declares

Campaign against Climate Change

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

CARAS

Care4Calais

Caribbean Solidarity

Centre for Media Monitoring

Cheadle Masjid

Choose Love

Chorley TUC

City of Sanctuary UK

Connections Network Eastbourne

Day-Mer

Debt Justice

Doctors of the World UK

Dorset Red Choir

Eastbourne Solidarity

Education 4 All

Engels in Eastbourne

Equality Trust

European Network on Religion and Belief

Everyday Racism

Find a Protest

Finsbury Park Mosque

Fire Brigades Union

Forth Valley Welcome

Forum of Muslim Organisations (Greater Manchester)

Friends of the Earth

General Federation of Trade Unions

George Lansbury Memorial Trust

Global Justice Now

Glossop Labour Club

Glossopdale Together Alliance

Greener Jobs Alliance

Haringey Welcome

Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees

Health Poverty Action (HPA)

Helen Bamber Foundation group

Herts for Refugees

Hindus for Human Rights UK (HfHR UK)

Hoylake4All

Humans for Rights Network

Imkaan

Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB)

Indivisible London

Islamic Society of Britain

Jewish Socialists’ Group

Just Transition Wakefield

Kanlungan Migrant Centre

Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN)

Lancaster and Morecambe Trades Union Council

Local Independents For Tiverton

Manchester Migrant Solidarity

Maryhill Integration Network

Medact

Mendip Trades Council

Merseyside Alliance for Racial Equality

Migrant Worker’s Union NI

Migrante UK

Mind

Muslim Council of Britain

Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND)

Muslim LGBT Network

Na’amod

NACCOM

New School of the Anthropocene

Newham Muslim Forum

No Sweat

North East Kent TUC

North Oxfordshire Socialist Alliance

Norwich & District Trades Union Council

Our Second Home

Oxfam GB

Pan-humanity

PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union)

Peace & Justice Project

POA

Portsmouth Stand Up To Racism

Portsmouth Friends of the Earth

Praxis

Prevent Watch

Psychotherapy and Counselling Union

Punk Against Poverty

Rainbow Migration

Reach Volunteering

Red Letter Christians UK

Refugee Action

Refugee Employment Network

Reset Communities for Refugees

Runnymede Trust

Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN)

Settled

Society of Union Employees

South West Lancashire NEU

Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group (SWVG)

Southwark Law Centre

Stand up to Racism

Stop the War Coalition

Students’ Federation of India – United Kingdom (SFI-UK)

Sustainable Hackney

Tax Justice UK

Teaching for Solidarity

Tesla Takedown UK

The Bike Project

The Circle

The Cordoba Foundation

The Launchpad Collective CIO

The Rainbow Stores

The Sheila McKechnie Foundation

The Working Class Climate Alliance

the3million

Thread Ahead

Through the Cracks

Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)

Together Alliance

UK Stop Trump Coalition

United East End

United Reformed Church Wessex Synod

VOICES ADFOCAD

Voices in Exile

Warwickshire NEU

West Devon Art Workshops

West London Welcome

Women Against the Far Right

Women for Refugee Women

Women in Prison

Woodcraft Folk

WOW – Women of the World

Writers’ Guild of Great Britain