A police complaint has been lodged over incitement to racial and religious hatred by Nigel Farage and the Brexit campaign during the referendum.
Campaigners handed in a complaint to a north London police station on Wednesday and have been given a crime reference number.
The complaint was backed by a petition signed by 40,000 people in response to a poster showing Nigel Farage next to a queue of migrants.
It asks police to investigate whether comments made by Mr Farage and others in the Leave EU camp were "systematically and purposefully designed to incite and stir up fear and intolerance of immigrants in order to procure votes".
Complainants alleged that the spike in hate crime recorded after the June 23 poll was "a direct consequence" of inflammatory rhetoric during the referendum campaign.
They highlighted guidance on the conduct of the referendum issued by the Electoral Commission, which advised participants that it is an offence under the Public Order Act 1968 to publish or distribute material intended or likely to stir up racial hatred.
And they also called for an investigation of whether referendum campaign materials breached the Malicious Communications Act 1988, Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 or the Equality Act 2010.
Campaign organiser Zach Newman said: “We need to send a clear signal that in all political campaigns and public life, racism and religious intolerance cannot be used to attract support."
A Ukip spokesman said: “If a generation of clicktivists want to wallow in their own outrage, that is their right.
“Fortunately, fair-minded people will see through their attempts to silence free speech.”
