Abuse of suspected migrants not an ‘innocent mistake’, says UK equality campaigner

Shabna Begum of Runnymede Trust says toxic rhetoric could lead to more vigilantism and violence

The vitriol faced by scouts and charity rowers mistaken for migrants was not an innocent mistake", a race equality campaigner has said, as she warned that toxic rhetoric could lead to more vigilantism and violence.

A wave of anti-migrant protests outside asylum hotels in recent weeks has been followed by growing reports of vigilantism, with people facing abuse after being mistaken for migrants.