Racist Brexit notice calling for people to speak English in UK

Britain’s police are investigating after a racist poster ordering residents to speak only English was put up inside a city council block to mark the UK leaving the European Union, The Guardian reports.

The note was placed on a fire door inside Winchester Tower in England's Norfolk County city Norwhich on Friday morning under the title “Happy Brexit Day.”

Someone I follow just shared this photo of a sign he saw attached to a front door in a block in Norwich.

Brexit has encouraged and emboldened these people. It will get worse.

Do whatever you can to support immigrants who face this shit. We all need to stand strong against it. pic.twitter.com/9IbB3ztOkO

— Simon Price (@simon_price01) February 1, 2020

It contained a vile far-right rant which said languages other than English would “not be tolerated.”

It read: “If you do want to speak whatever is the mother tongue of the country you came from then we suggest you return to that place and return your flat to the council so they can let British people live here and we can return to what was once normality before you infected this once great country.”

The words also hail the return of “our great country” and say Brexit means the government will be “putting the British first.”

According to the BBC, which spoke to a resident, the signs were left on fire doors across all 15 floors of the block of flats before being removed by the caretaker.

A racist ‘Brexit Day’ poster demanding that residents speak the “Queen’s English” has been posted on “every floor” of a Norwich tower block. https://t.co/Jyi0lyqgqP

— Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) February 1, 2020

The poster was discovered by a horrified resident who reported it to the local council and police as a hate crime.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told British portal Metro, the letter was posted on every floor of the building which had become home to several eastern European families in recent years and Brexit appeared to have emboldened racism towards them.

He said: “The block has always generally felt like a pretty friendly place. But in recent years I’ve heard more racist things being said, I think people feel emboldened now. I’ve overheard people saying things like: ‘It’s gotten worse since the eastern Europeans moved in,’ and that sort of thing.”

Anybody in Norwich or UEA Campus or from the @JohnInnesCentre can please confirm this is just a bad joke? #Brexit pic.twitter.com/MfYHWI0qzm

— Francesco (@KeggioV) February 2, 2020

Writing on Twitter on Saturday, Norwich City Council, who owns those flats, said: "You may have seen a photo of a poster that has appeared in one of our properties.

“Norwich has a proud history of being a welcoming city, and we will not tolerate this behaviour. As soon as we became aware of this incident, we reported it to Norfolk Police and they are investigating.”

"We take this very seriously and encourage residents to contact us or the police if they have any concerns."