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Xenophobic attacks have risen in the wake of the EU referendum result, so much so that David Cameron was forced to confront, and condemn racism in his statement to parliament on Monday.
We have a fundamental responsibility to bring our country together. In the past few days we have seen despicable graffiti daubed on a Polish community centre. We’ve seen verbal abuse hurled against individuals because they are members of ethnic minorities. Let’s remember these people have come here and made a wonderful contribution to our country. And we will not stand for hate crime or these kinds of attacks. They must be stamped out.
People have been documenting incidents of racism post-Brexit in an effort to highlight the toxic campaigning by some in the Leave camp.
However, when one Facebook user uploaded an incident of racial abuse she had personally experienced, the post was swiftly removed by the site's administrators.
On Monday, Sally Mew posted the following status on her Facebook page, talking about someone shouting racial slurs at her:
We voted leave, so you'd better move your f--king chink ass out the way, and back to China. And while you're doing that, you'd better take your f--king chink family with you because you f--king chinks are everywhere.
indy100 spoke to Sally Mew:
Where did the racial abuse happen?
It happened near to St Neots station, in Cambridgeshire.
A man, maybe in his late 50's approached me, and then said that.
I was under the impression that maybe he wanted directions, or to ask me something - I was wrong!
After posting about the incident, and after receiving many likes, shares, love and support, the status was removed.
Mew wrote a follow-up status thanking everyone for their support and for spreading the word:
Silly Facebook deleted my previous post for ‘violating community standards,’ but thanks to all those who took screenshots… and continued sharing, even if my original post was taken down :)
However that post was also taken down, followed by a 24 hour post ban on her account, preventing her from sending messages, posting, liking, commenting on anyone's items and her own.
Surely writing about her experience with racial abuse isn't a "violation of community standards?"
Facebook did not immediately comment on the case. However one hour after indy100 got in contact with them, Mew received the following message:
A member of the team accidentally removed something you posted on Facebook. This was a mistake, and we sincerely apologise for this error.
More: This is the new campaign to document Brexit-related racial abuse
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