Police have opened an investigation into a possible hate crime when a protester supporting Palestine used the term “coconut” in reference to Rishi Sunak.
On Saturday, there was a rally in support of Palestine that took place in London. A woman is seen holding a sign that depicts Sunak and Braverman sitting beneath a coconut tree in a photograph that has gained widespread attention.
The Metropolitan Police of London announced on Sunday that they were conducting an investigation into the individual who used the racial insult “coconut” in reference to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom during a pro-Palestine march in the city of London. The conduct was referred to by the police as a “hate crime,” and they sought the public's assistance in locating those responsible.
Police hunt for protester with ‘coconuts poster’ and men who hurled racist abuse
On Saturday, there was a rally in support of Palestine that took place in London. A woman is seen holding a sign that depicts Sunak and Braverman sitting beneath a coconut tree in a photograph that has gained widespread attention.
According to Sunder Katwala, an author and director at the think tank British Future located in the United Kingdom, a concerningly large number of people appear to be unaware that the use of the term “coconut” is not only abhorrent and a poor way to make a political argument, but that it is also an unlawful form of racist abuse that can be prosecuted and has been prosecuted in the past.
During the heated discussion, Katwala distributed an article that was published ten years ago and described how a councillor was found guilty of racial harassment after she used a slur referring to “coconuts.” During a heated argument, Shirley Brown, the first black person to hold the position of Liberal Democrat, allegedly referred to an Asian opponent as a “coconut” in a report that was published in 2010.
According to the report, the word was used in court to accuse someone of abandoning their ethnicity by pandering to white views in the same way that a coconut has a brown husk on the exterior but white flesh in the middle.
Film and theatre director Anwar Akhtar stated that he believes it to be harsh and brutal, but that Asians should be allowed to call out other Asians, “who build political careers by empowering the far right.” On the other hand, Akhtar admitted that “it's sensitive, complex, and can also cause harm.”
Katwala, in response to Akhtar, stated that there are a million different methods to condemn politicians for their language or actions that do not include using racial slurs, which are against the law. “There is no right for some people to use racial slurs as abuse vs. people they want to abuse from their own group, another minority, or the majority group.”
