London's 35 racist crimes a day

Up to 35 racist crimes occur in London every day, new police figures reveal.

Although the figure has dropped since 1999 and the capital has a better record than the rest of the country, the findings are expected to trigger fresh calls for action to stamp out abuse.

A Pakistani or Indian man is 13 times more likely to suffer a racial incident than a white man, with an Arab 12 times more likely, Afro-Caribbeans 11 times more likely, Chinese five times more likely and Jews three times more likely.

There were 13,319 "racially aggravated incidents" in London in 2004, statistics from Scotland Yard and the Greater London Authority reveal. A third of the racist crimes each day in the capital involve harassment while others include assaults or woundings and criminal damage against property. There were 216 anti-Semitic crimes last year and seven per cent of all attacks were against new migrants from eastern Europe and southern Europe, the GLA said.

Ken Livingstone said: "Every attack is intolerable, whether directed against Asians, black people, Jews, Muslims or anyone else." He said the police and communities working together have succeeded in reducing such incidents "but the level is still intolerably high".