28/03/2014
Chief Commissioner Dr Michael Wardlow has condemned two separate pipe bomb attacks on Romanian families in Derry on Saturday.
He repeats his call to the Northern Ireland Executive to consider specific measures to tackle prejudicial attitudes in our society, and said that the attacks, which the PSNI are treating as hate crimes, must be a matter of concern to everyone in Northern Ireland.
“We have recommended that the Executive, as it revises its Racial Equality Strategy, should promote values of acceptance and respect. We have asked that action be taken to prioritise the reduction and elimination of racial violence, including actions to improve reporting of racist hate crimes and how racist hate crimes are addressed and to reduce and prevent racist violence, including re-offending,” Dr Wardlow said.
“We know from our last Equality Awareness Survey (2011) that 28% of people surveyed said they would mind having someone from Eastern Europe as a neighbour, and that negative attitude has worsened since 2008. However, we know from the same source that over 87% do not feel negative towards black and other minority ethnic people.
“So we know that the people who attacked these two families do not represent the majority in Northern Ireland and we will continue our work to encourage a fairer and more equal society here.”