Two families in north Edinburgh have been forced to flee their homes after racist abuse directed at them became too much to bear.

The families were subjected to constant insults in the street, had their cars and homes vandalized and grew too scared to venture outside of the confines of their own home.

They have now been rehoused elsewhere in Edinburgh.

Tesfu Gessesse, director of the Black Community Development Project (BCDP), that helped to relocate the two families, said: “I think things are getting worse for many reasons, including the profile of the BNP.

"Also in times of economic decline when people are in poverty and are losing their jobs, they are stressed and often depressed. They often look for people to blame - that is sometimes ethnic minorities.”

This incident of racism in the country’s capital has led to increased efforts to improve race relations.

Groups concerned with anti-racism are disturbed by the rise of the far-right BNP and the way in which this may provoke increased tensions between people of different ethnicities.

One couple with three young children were racially abused for almost eight years in Granton before giving up on the community they lived in and moving away.

Jacqueline McWilliams, a member of BCDP working on their case, describes the sequence of events they had been subjected to as "horrific".

She went on to describe how they couldn’t even go on holiday without the fear that their home would have been vandalized on their return.

The other family, with a young child of mixed race only survived two months in their Royston home. Even after this short time police had to prompt housing officials to move them as they were being verbally assaulted and having their cars smashed on a daily basis.

Last month the Edinburgh Evening News reported the case of Sarah Hutton and her children, who were evicted from their north Edinburgh home following complaints of racist abuse.

At a Forth Neighborhood Partnership meeting this week, members agreed to look into forming a stronger network of support for victims.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We are committed to ridding racism and all strands of prejudice from our communities and will continue to actively engage with our key partners and local residents to tackle this issue."