San Francisco marks whopping 567% spike in anti-Asian hate crimes

San Francisco, Jan 29 (IANS) Preliminary data from the San Francisco Police Department showed that reports of incidents involving hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the city have increased from nine in 2020 to 60 in 2021, a whopping 567 per cent increase.

Mayor London Breed expressed despair over the astonishing surge and suspected the actual numbers are much higher because people are reluctant to report such incidents to the police, reports Xinhua news agency.

"As a community we protected each other. And that's what we have to do now more than ever," the Mayor was quoted as saying.

The Stop AAPI Hate coalition, a San Francisco-based organization tracking actions hostile to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the US, has reported more than 10,000 hate incidents from March 2020 to September 2021.