We exist to provide a secure platform for reporting, to offer support to those affected, and to drive change through awareness.

A young South Asian man is walking down a street in Hartlepool when, without warning, he is punched in the face. Onlookers cheer, laugh and yell racial slurs. “A P*ki got banged,” one shouts as those around him begin to smash the windows of small businesses and violently kick down the door of a nearby house. In neighbouring Middlesbrough, a group of white men erect a makeshift checkpoint, halting traffic and interrogating drivers about their ethnicity, demanding to know if they are “white” or “English.” These shocking, racist acts did not unfold in the 1970s. They occurred just a year ago in the North East of England.

Last summer marked the worst instance of racist violence in over a century. Across Britain, more than a dozen towns and cities were impacted, with smaller, more geographically isolated Black and Asian communities particularly vulnerable.

Since then there has been further violence. In January this year, seven London mosques were daubed with anti-Muslim grafitti. In the following months, others were attacked in Luton, Aberdeen and Sheffield. In April, Muslim graves in Watford were vandalised. In June, worshippers were evacuated from the Belfast Islamic Centre when its windows were smashed and a bomb was thrown inside.

Most racist attacks against individuals go unreported. When they are reported, they are often dismissed as low level anti-social behaviour and receive scant attention from out political and media class.

RADAR is an independent, anti-racist monitoring service committed to documenting racist attacks, supporting victims and providing in-depth reporting into the experiences of smaller and more isolated Black and Asian communities across Britain.