Locals unite for Tower Hamlets Peace Walk

Emdad Rahman

AS PART OF National Hate Crime Awareness Week, East Londoners came together with visitors from as far afield as New York and with community organisations to go on a Peace Walk.

The Tower Hamlets No Place For Hate Forum, ELOP, Tower Hamlets LGBT Community Forum, the Real Disability Hate Crime Project and Local Voices Project also united to launch the #NoPlaceForHate campaign.

The aim of the walk was to ensure locals knew about National Hate Crime Awareness Week and promote the Tower Hamlets No Place For Hate Campaign – along with local hate crime advice and support services.

Participants braved the wet weather to gather in Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel, before taking a walk along Brick Lane and down Bethnal Green Road to the finishing point at Oxford House, where light refreshments were served.

As they recovered from the walk, campaigners listened to speeches from:
•Alan Green from Tower Hamlets No Place For Hate Forum;
•Mark Healey from the Real Disability Hate Crime Project;
•Sarah Humphreys from Tower Hamlets LGBT Community Forum/ELOP.

Ansar Ahmed Ullah, General Secretary of the Altab Ali Foundation, was a participant on the walk. He said, “We have to remain vigilant and when our communities are under we have to stand shoulder to shoulder against the evil of hatred.”

The Council’s No Place for Hate campaign provides training to the community to help tackle hate crime and raises awareness of the impact of discrimination. It also supports victims and aids the prosecution of perpetrators.

The No Place for Hate Forum and Hate Incidents Panel is a partnership forum which leads the campaign to tackle hate crime by providing support to victims, training people to be “champions” in the community by raising awareness and working with organisations to ensure enforcement action.

•Anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, hate crime should to report it immediately. You can call 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergencies.

•The Council commission Victim Support to provide specialist emotional and practical support. Further details can be found on:
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/hatecrime

•Read more about it:
Biggs asks residents to lead war on hate crime
Metropolitan Police commit to tackling hate crime