HUMZA Yousaf has hit out at the “dehumanisation of refugees” as new polling showed over a third of people in the UK believe “attacks against refugee homes are necessary”.
Polling company WeThink interviewed 1278 people across the UK to discover their thoughts on far-right riots in England and Northern Ireland.
The responses found that 39% of people believed “hostility against refugees is sometimes justified”.
National contributor Owen Jones reacted to the findings by saying “a third of Britons are violent racists – that’s what this poll says”.
Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements on refugees and whether or not they agreed or disagreed. Below is a look at some of the key results.
- Overall, 39% of people said they agreed that “when it comes to the refugee problem, violence is sometimes the only means that citizens have to get the attention of British politicians”
- Figures showed 34% of people agreed that attacks against refugee homes are sometimes necessary to make it clear to politicians that we have a refugee problem
- Furthermore, 32% agreed that “hostility against refugees is sometimes justified, even if it ends up in violence”
- And 36% said they agreed that “xenophobic acts of violence are defensible if they result in fewer refugees being settled in your town”
Former first minister Humza Yousaf was among those to react to the poll, saying: “Over a third polled believe that xenophobic acts of violence are defensible if they result in fewer refugees settling in their town.
“Decades of institutional xenophobia in our media & politics have led to the absolute dehumanisation of refugees.
“What have we become? For shame.”
WeThink also asked those polled what they felt were the main cause of recent far-right violence in England and Northern Ireland.
Statistics showed 54% said immigration, while 52% said racism and 40% believed it was because of “violence for its own sake”.
