20 year-old student Ashleigh Moodley who is of an Indian descent, was racially abused after stroking a woman’s dog.
Explaining the incident the student of the University of Gloucestershire told the Echo: “I was walking to the doctor’s surgery on St George’s Road and two ladies in their mid-40s came towards me with their dog.
“It was a very energetic dog and bounded towards me, I was smiling at the dog and I told them I really liked their dog.
“The lady who had the lead knelt down and started talking to me about the dog. As she stood up, the lady next to her said quietly, “That’s why I voted for Brexit, to get rid of people like her”.
“I told her, ‘By people like me do you mean British citizens?'”
Ashleigh says it’s not the first time she has experienced racial abuse. Last year the following comment was made to her “go back to your country you f*****g c**t’.”
Stewart Dove, director of student support at the University of Gloucestershire said: “While such incidents are rare in Cheltenham, racism in any form is totally unacceptable.
“We were deeply shocked and saddened to hear about the totally unacceptable abuse that Ashleigh suffered on Monday.
Racial tension has significantly grown since the referendum. Figures show an increase of 57% in hate crimes regarding the referendum.
Mark Hamilton, head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said: “Reports to police increased by 42%, to more than 3,000 allegations of hate crime across Britain in the week before and the week after the 23 June vote. “It’s probably the worst spike,”