Arrests made following reports of foreign students being harassed in Stratford
REPORTS of foreign students and schoolchildren being harassed on the streets of Stratford have been met with a shocked response from the authorities in the town.
One group of students was even threatened with a knife, the Herald has been told. The culprits are alleged to be local youths – and in one case a number of girls – who followed the students through the streets and then confronted them with a torrent of abuse.
On being told of the harassment Cllr Kate Rolfe, the Mayor of Stratford, said: “My immediate reaction is that this is very sad to hear. We need to welcome these students.”
Cllr Rolfe told the Herald: “It’s very sad to hear that we have this group of youngsters doing what they’re doing. It really breaks my heart.
“We shouldn’t be mistreating foreign students. We should be looking after them. We should be welcoming everyone. We’re a tourist town.”
And Jonathan Allan, Senior Ambassador for Stratford BID (Business Improvement District), said: “We are not aware of any of these incidents, but like everywhere Stratford is not immune from issues relating to security and anti-social behaviour, and is only too aware of the potential damage that these can have on the town’s economy.”
According to a person who lives in Stratford and organises accommodation for foreign students and their teachers – and who wishes to remain anonymous - there were three separate incidents in the past few weeks involving harassment. They stressed, however, that the information had come to them third hand (the students told their teachers and then the teachers told our informant).
The informant told the Herald that the first incident happened in March when a group of French girls aged 11, 12 and 13 were followed by youths in Bridge Street and harassed. “The girls were very shocked and not happy,” said our informant.
Around the end of April a group of 17- and 18-year-old Belgian boys were approached by youths who demanded they hand over their trainers. “They were threatened with a knife,” the Herald was told.
On 26th May a group of local boys and girls followed some Czech students through the town and harassed them.
Mr Allan, of BID, said his organisation was “really fortunate” to be part of a very proactive and cohesive approach to these matters in Stratford, indicating that the town was immensely conscious of the problems it could be facing.
He said: “Indeed, the BID team are working more closely than ever with Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative, town centre CCTV, Stratford District Council’s Anti- Social Behaviour team and in-house retail security teams to combat these issues head on.”
Mr Allan added: “It is really important though to remind BID businesses and members of the public that it is essential to report incidents. Our team of street ambassadors are out and about in the town centre seven days a week and have direct communications with CCTV and other bodies to enable fast and appropriate responses to incidents.
“We also have over a hundred radios across our member businesses for people to report issues directly. All of these report into our brilliant Pub and Retail Watch schemes where appropriate actions can be taken against known offenders.”
He stressed: “It is only by working together that we can combat these issues.”
Although not commenting directly on the report of harassment of foreign students, Darren Tosh, operations and marketing director at Shakespeare’s England, told the Herald: “Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the jewels in Britain’s tourism crown, and as the tourism body for the town and the wider region, we know how vital it is that everyone works together to make sure that visitors have the best possible experience.”
Meanwhile, Warwickshire Police told the Herald of two arrests in Stratford in recent days. One occurred on 10th June when a 37-year-old man from Stratford was arrested in Child’s Close on suspicion of two public order offences.
The other took place on 9th June when a 20-year-old man from Stratford was arrested at the Maybird Centre on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and assault.
