Ads
Ads
Ads
[UK] Bristol refugee murder review accuses police of institutional racism
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/18/bristol-refugee-murder-review-finds-police-institutional-racism-bijan-ebrahimi
An independent review has found evidence of institutional racism in the way a police force and a local authority dealt with a disabled Iranian refugee who was murdered by a misguided vigilante who believed he was a paedophile.
The review said Avon and Somerset police and Bristol city council had wrongly perceived Bijan Ebrahimi as a troublemaker rather than a victim and sided with his abusers.
Lawyers for Ebrahimi’s family emphasised the significance of the finding of institutional racism against a police force, the most explicit since the publication in 1999 of Sir William Macpherson’s landmark report on the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence – and the first of its kind against a local authority.
The review, which was ordered by the Safer Bristol executive board, said police and council displayed a “distinct lack of understanding” of Ebrahimi’s plight and thus “unwitting prejudice against him”.
It concluded that more account should have been taken of Ebrahimi’s isolation and vulnerability and that there was “evidence of discriminatory behaviour and institutional racism on the part of Bristol city council and Avon and Somerset constabulary”.
Austria's conservative People's Party has agreed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party.
The deal comes two months after a parliamentary election which the People's Party won but without an overall majority.
At just 31, the People's Party's Sebastian Kurz is set to become the world's youngest head of government.
If the coalition is ratified, Austria would become the only western European state with a governing far-right party.
The parties previously governed the country together between 2000 and 2005.