LONDON (AP) – As videos, photos and written accounts of intolerant abuse percolate across the internet in the wake of Britain’s referendum to leave the European Union, Juan Jasso has become one of the country’s best-known victims.
The U.S. Army veteran is seen deflecting abuse as a British-sounding youth in a baseball cap, clutching a bottle of beeer, screams expletives and demands that the immigrant get off the tram running through the northern city of Manchester.
The youth shouts: “Go back to Africa!”
“How old are you?” Jasso shouts back at one point. “I’ve been here longer than you have.”
The video showing the nakedly aggressive racial abuse became among the most widely shared accounts of intolerance which have emerged since Thursday’s vote. Anecdotal evidence and police statistics suggest the country has seen a surge in abusive acts against immigrants as fringe elements who backed Brexit crow over their victory.