Attacks on Poles in UK unacceptable: European Commission chief
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
14.09.2016 12:46
Europeans cannot accept Poles working abroad being harassed, beaten up or killed, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday in a State of the Union address.
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission. Photo: EPA/PATRICK SEEGER
In an annual address before members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Juncker referred to a spate of hate crimes against Poles in the UK following Britain's referendum vote to leave the EU.
"We Europeans can never accept Polish workers being harassed, beaten up or even murdered on the streets of Harlow,” Juncker said.
Six teenagers were arrested last month on suspicion of killing a Polish man in Harlow, southeastern England, in a suspected hate crime.
“The free movement of workers is as much a common European value as our fight against discrimination and racism," Juncker said in his address.
Britain saw a surge in hate crimes following June's referendum in which Britons voted to leave the European Union. Immigration was a key issue in the referendum campaigns.
On Wednesday, British police detained four youths, aged 14, 15 and 16, who are suspected of beating up another Pole in the northern English city of Leeds. The 28-year-old Polish man was attacked on Friday.
(pk)
Source: europa.eu/PAP