It comes at a time of rising reported hate crime in the aftermath of the campaign and vote that saw Britain elect to leave the European Union. The alert began in Sheffield, south Yorkshire, on Tuesday evening when several envelopes with white powder were found at a sorting office. “Forces have been monitoring and managing hate crime more robustly since the attacks in Paris in 2015. Previous surveys have shown the vast majority of hate crime, some 85%, is race hate-related. The new figures released on Friday showed a large rise in reported incidents, averaging over 200 a day.

Source: The Guardian July 08, 2016 13:28 UTC