By Ben Kerrigan-
UK police will meet with the polish community on Tuesday to discuss the killing of Arkadiusz Jóźwik in Harlow, Essex.The meeting is generally aimed at discussing urgent need for an increase in protection for the Polish community, especially in the south-east of England.
Two senior ministers from Poland have been given assurances by the home secretary, Amber Rudd, and foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, at an emergency meeting in London that the protection of Polish communities in the UK would be stepped up.
The special arrangement follows a number of targeted attacks that has caused mounting alarm in the large Polish community in the UK, and in Poland. The killing of polish national, Jozwick, shocked the Polish community and has raised alarm for the provision of greater measures of protection for Polish residents in the U.K.
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Six teenagers arrested over the murder have been released by Essex police without charge or bail conditions.
Essex police have said Jóźwik and a second Polish man who survived were apparently the victims of an unprovoked attack. The motive is unknown, but police are investigating whether it was a possible hate crime.
The Poles are to mount their own criminal investigation into the death of Jóźwik, but are acting in cooperation with Essex police.
Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, is also set to closely scrutinize racist comments made in social media forums in relation to the Brexit referendum and any related hate crimes.
Polish embassy staff say they have been contacted about 15 separate incidents of xenophobia including arson, physical assault, hateful graffiti and intimidation.
At a joint press conference, Waszczykowski said: “We reminded the authorities in the United Kingdom that Poles are a group that integrates well with British society, works hard, pays taxes and deserves protection and care.”
He added that immigration had been used as a “weapon” in the campaign against EU membership, calling on British authorities to safeguard the rights of Polish migrants.
Waszczykowski said Poles have been living in the UK since the second world war and their community grew after Poland joined the EU in 2004.
“Over the decades, the significant Polish population in the UK had experienced no problems, no harm. A few months ago, on the sidelines of the campaign leading up to the Brexit decision and after the referendum, incidents against Poles have begun to occur,” said Waszczykowski.
Recent official statistics indicate that Poles living in the UK constitute the highest number of foreign born residents of the Uk.
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An estimated 831,000 Polish-born people lived in Britain in 2015 – a more than 13-fold increase on the 69,000 residents in 2004, when Poland joined the EU and its nationals gained the right to live and work in Britain.
The Poles are seeking assurances that the rights of Poles already in the UK will not be affected by any new restrictions on immigration proposed by May as part of her Brexit package. Those rights are as good as guaranteed, providing the same is assured of British citizens living in Poland abroad.