NORTHERN IRELAND reported the highest number of race-related incidents on record last year.

Some 1,411 such incidents were recorded in the 12 months from July 1 2023 to June 30 2024, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

Nirsa compiled the incidents from Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) statistics.

More faith/religion and transgender identity hate incidents were also recorded over the same period when compared with the previous 12 months.

Faith/religion incidents rose from 36 to 94 and crimes increased from 25 to 60, while transgender identity incidents increased from 61 to 73 and the number of transgender identity crimes rose from 40 to 41.

Meanwhile, there was a decrease of 254 sectarian incidents, while the number of crimes fell by 317, described as the largest fall in sectarian crimes over a 12-month period since autumn 2016.

Sexual orientation incidents and crimes fell from 417 to 378 and from 277 to 230 respectively, and disability incidents decreased from 122 to 89 and crimes fell from 83 to 48.

The latest figures were recorded before the recent spate of race-related incidents in August which followed anti-immigration riots in Belfast.

“Tackling racism and race hate crime in Northern Ireland requires not just a consistent response from the police but clear political leadership and effective strategies from the government,” Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan said.

“These new figures show that even before the recent orchestrated campaign of racist violence in parts of Northern Ireland, the number of race-hate incidents reported to the police was at an all-time high,” he said.

“The fact that racist crimes represent almost one-in-a-hundred of all recorded crimes in Northern Ireland should be a wake-up call to the scale of the problem now facing us.

“For too long, those behind these attacks have felt able to act with impunity, emboldened to carry out further attacks.

“This has been the depressing backdrop to the recent and ongoing spike in racially motivated attacks which have left minoritised communities living in fear.”