The annual figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show that racist crimes represented 0.9 per cent of all recorded crime during the period.

Almost half of recorded race hate incidents and crimes were in Belfast.

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland director at Amnesty International, said: “These new figures show that even before the recent orchestrated campaign of racist violence in parts of Northern Ireland, the number of race hate incidents reported to the police was at an all-time high.

“The fact that racist crimes represent almost one-in-a-hundred of all recorded crimes in Northern Ireland should be a wake-up call to the scale of the problem now facing us.

“For too long, those behind these attacks have felt able to act with impunity, emboldened to carry out further attacks. This has been the depressing backdrop to the recent and ongoing spike in racially-motivated attacks which have left minoritised communities living in fear.

“Tackling racism and race hate crime in Northern Ireland requires not just a consistent response from the police but clear political leadership and effective strategies from the government.”