SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- 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 huge 567-percent increase.
According to the Associated Press, Mayor London Breed expressed despair over the astonishing surge at Tuesday's press conference, and suspected the actual numbers are much higher because people are reluctant to report such incidents to the police.
"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 United States, has reported more than 10,000 hate incidents from March 2020 to September 2021. ■