The mayor has obtained at the least 304,000 racist messages on social media since 2016
By:
Chandrashekar Bhat
LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to broaden a contentious clean-air zone for motorists has pushed a surge in on-line racist abuse towards him, in accordance with an evaluation revealed by his workplace on Wednesday (5).
Khan, who’s of Pakistani descent, was elected the primary Muslim mayor of London – and of any main Western capital – in 2016. He has since obtained at the least 304,000 racist messages on social media, the report stated, partly fuelled by a long-running Twitter spat with then-US president Donald Trump.
London’s Extremely Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which fees drivers of essentially the most polluting autos £12.50 a day, is about to greater than double in measurement from August 29, in a fiercely debated growth that additionally faces a problem in courtroom.
Situations of racist abuse in the direction of Khan linked to ULEZ almost tripled in January-March from the prior three months, reaching a report final month, the Higher London Authority stated, citing inside analysis that analysed posts on Twitter.
“Sadiq has all the time confronted big ranges of racist abuse on-line, with the amount of assaults rising once more considerably in latest weeks,” a spokesperson for Khan stated.
“Insurance policies that deal with air high quality and public well being have undoubtedly grow to be a significant focus of on-line hate within the UK and internationally.”
The zone’s growth, championed by Khan as very important to forestall deaths and sicknesses linked to air air pollution, has pitted well being campaigners towards those that say they can’t endure one other financial hit throughout a cost-of-living disaster in Britain.
Whereas public figures face frequent invective on-line, usually from nameless customers, the Metropolis Corridor evaluation underscores the polarising nature of the ULEZ debate in London.
At a public city corridor assembly in March, Khan stated he discovered it unacceptable that these with official objections to ULEZ have been “becoming a member of palms” with far-right sympathisers.
(Reuters)
