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An Islington councillor was racially abused in a supermarket the day after Brexit as Town Hall chief Richard Watts warned that the European Referendum had opened a “Pandora’s Box”.

Clerkenwell Labour ward councillor Raphael Andrews, 56, was called a “monkey” and told to “go back to the jungle” as he did his morning shopping in Angel Sainsbury’s just after 7am on Saturday.

The incident comes amid a reported rise in hate crime nationally in the wake of the Leave vote.

Islington Labour group has organised a Say No to Hate Crime rally on Saturday, which will be attended by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Cllr Watts said: “We’ve always seen Islington as a multicultural and tolerant borough but we can’t assume that any more. We’ve got to go out and fight for it.”

A meeting has been called between Town Hall chiefs and police on how to tackle hate crime and catch the culprits.

Cllr Andrews, who has lived in Islington for almost 50 years, told the Tribune the man who racially abused him was in his late 60s or early 70s. “He came up to me and said: ‘Go back to the jungle where you came from and get out of my country.’ At first I wondered if I was dreaming but he was just looking at me like he was expecting me to say something.

“I just walked away because arguing with him wouldn’t have achieved anything. I just wanted to get my shopping done. But I thought to myself: ‘How do you know where I come from? I am more British than you’.”

Cllr Watts said there had been an increase in community tensions since last Thursday. “We’ve heard of a number of incidents of low-level hate crimes and racism,” he said. “The EU referendum has opened a Pandora’s Box and has given people the idea that they have permission to express things that are utterly unacceptable.

“We’ve heard reports of comments on buses, people working in shops being told to go back to where they came from, people saying ‘We voted Out and now you need to get out’.”

Islington Police said they had not experienced an increased number of hate crimes reported to them but remained “highly aware that certain events can trigger incidents”.

Cllr Andrews said he had spoken out as he had seen Leave voters in the media say people were exaggerating claims of racism and hate crime.

“I have noticed in the past two or three years there has been an increase in the amount of racism going on, and it has got worse after the referendum,” he said.

“Ukip are the worst for it but the kind of language Boris Johnson and David Cameron have been using also is incendiary and doesn’t help the situation.

“The referendum language has been adding fuel to the fire. These are people who should know better, who should be acting more responsibly.”

Cllr Andrews said he suffered an earlier race hate attack just one month ago as he was getting off a bus. Shockingly, he said he did not have time to report every racist incident he encountered as he would be “sat in the police station all day”.

The Love Islington – Say No to Hate Crime rally will take place at Highbury Fields from 10am to noon on Saturday.

Islington Labour Group also tabled a motion at last night’s (Thursday’s) full council meeting condemning hate crime and “resolving to work with faith and community groups to ensure Islington remains welcoming to all”.

Cllr Watts coordinated a statement from faith and community leaders saying that Islington is proud to be a “diverse, tolerant and cohesive community”.