Two Poles attacked in UK, chances of hate killing

Two Polish men were assaulted in a British town on Sunday, hours after a vigil for a fellow Pole murdered in what police say may have been another hate crime.

One man suffered a broken nose and another a cut to the head during the attack outside a pub in Harlow in the early hours on Sunday, Essex Police said.

Factory worker Arek Jozwik, 40, was killed in the town northeast of London on August 27 and hundreds of people attended a vigil in his memory on Saturday.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski urged Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Saturday to prevent xenophobic attacks against Poles after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June. “This was a vicious and horrible attack,”   said Superintendent Trevor Roe of Saturday’s assault.

“Although we are considering this matter as a potential hate crime, it is not being linked with the attack at The Stow last weekend,”   he added, referring to the killing of Jozwik. Six teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder and released on bail. While police are investigating whether it was a hate crime, they say the motive is still not clear.