Sunday, June 03, 2012

"Living in Ukraine is scary for black people..."

Levi Nwankwo is a law-abiding, peaceful man, but as he walks briskly through Donetsk, the Ukrainian city in which he lives, he is in a state of high alert.

That is during the day. At night, he will travel only by cab. As a student, it’s a luxury he can ill afford, but after dark the streets aren’t safe. At least, not for a black man.

The 27-year-old Nigerian is 6ft tall and capable of defending himself but there was little he could do when he was ambushed by a gang of extreme Right-wing thugs last August.

(...)

Indignant Ukrainian authorities insist there is no problem. Yet there is evidence that the level of intolerance towards immigrants here is actually increasing.

According to a national poll in 2011, only three per cent of the country’s population want to see Asians living in their country – for Africans the figure is 2.6 per cent.

And statistics show there has been a steady rise in hate crimes over the past two years.

One expat Ukrainian living in London had warned me that Donetsk, where England will play two of their three group matches, was a grim backwater stuck in a time warp. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Italian striker Balotelli threatens to kill racists who throw bananas...
  2. "What if they think Ukraine is in Africa?"
  3. When Italian soccer fans heaped racist abuse on Mario Balotelli and his...
  4. English soccer fans warned to stay away from Euro 2012 "because you...
  5. Celtic fan jailed for making monkey gestures towards black player...
  6. Israeli mob hurls abuse at woman for supporting African immigrants...
  7. London woman arrested over racist rant on tram...
  8. " Black players should just put up with racism and get on with the game."
  9. Neo-nazi gang in Russia jailed for 27 murders...
  10. 'Pink Panther' murders see Nazi ghosts return to haunt Germany...
  11. The Russian Neo-Nazi movement...

No comments:

Post a Comment