Standing together to end hate crime

Standing together to end hate crime

Bury Council, GM Police, Six Town Housing and Bury College linked-up last week to organise a series of inclusive events and activities to mark National Hate Crime Awareness Week (12to 19 October 2019).

These positive, educational events and activities which were designed to promote messages of solidarity and community across the borough, included:

• ‘BeSafe!’ (a school initiative aimed at year 7 students across all secondary schools) – students took part in a day devoted to learning how to stay safe and the importance of standing together to jointly stamp out hate crime.
• Music for Young People – an inspiring group of artists performed at Kay Gardens, singing and playing music linked to the theme of solidarity.

Awareness raising was also a key part of marking the week with the Hate Crime media display van out across the borough.This helped to highlight positive messages, explain what hate crime is, and raise awareness of how to report it.A powerful anti-hate crime image was also projected onto Bury Town Hall to amplify the message ‘LET’S END HATE CRIME’.

Cllr Richard Gold, Deputy Cabinet Member for Communities said: “National Hate Crime Awareness Week is an opportunity to show victims of this awful crime how seriously we treat their experiences and to encourage more people to come forward and get help.

“In Bury we are fortunate to live in an open andfriendly town with great community spirit but we must continue to reinforce the message that hate is not tolerated here.”

Bury Council urges all those affected by a hate crime to either report it via 999 in an emergency, 101, the non-emergency number, or via the www.report-it.org.uk website.

To find out more about what a hate crime is and how to receive support visit www.letsendhatecrime.com.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is currently consulting on a plan to tackle hate crime.To give your views visit www.gmconsult.org