• ON Monday we held our first full council meeting since the escalation in conflict in Israel and Gaza.

This conflict impacts on our Jewish and Muslim residents, many of whom have relatives in the Middle East or who have strong feelings about the conflict.

Regrettably some awful hate incidents have taken place in the borough.

On issues like this we are clear we need to come together regardless of party politics.

We are at our strongest when we stand together united against hate.

This is why at this week’s full council meeting, of all 55 of Camden’s councillors, we launched a campaign called “Safe and Strong, Together”.

The campaign focuses on celebrating our diverse communities and how we get on together, our determination to reject division, and encouraging people to report hate crime.

Over the coming weeks you’ll see images of people from across Camden appearing on our social media channels and on bus stop advertising spaces communicating this clear message; a message we want you to spread among your friends, family and community too.

Let us be clear, we are here to take practical action alongside this messaging and work with our partners to keep all our residents safe.

We have deployed extra community presence patrols on our streets and we will wash off any hateful graffiti we see or that residents report in to us.

If you or anyone you know experiences physical assault, verbal abuse, harassment and damage to property, that is a hate crime, please report it.

The key ways to do this are calling the police on 101 (or if you are in immediate danger, 999), reporting online at report-it.org.uk or to one of our community partners.

These include the Community Security Trust (for anti-Semitic incidents) on 0800 032 3263 and Tell Mama (for Islamophobic incidents) on 0800 456 1226.

We are working practically and locally to keep our communities safe and to promote the community cohesion we so cherish in Camden.

CLLR PAT CALLAGHAN
Acting Leader Camden Council

CLLR ADAM HARRISON
Acting Deputy Leader