France recorded significantly more racist crimes last year than in the previous year. With around 8,500 crimes and misdemeanours, the number rose by 32%, the Ministry of the Interior in Paris announced on Wednesday. There were around 6,400 racist incidents where people were racially insulted, provoked or defamed, or subjected to death threats and blackmail. Physical violence and attacks occurred less frequently, but such cases also increased last year. In its statistics, the ministry counts all reported offences that were directed against someone’s ethnicity, nation or religion. According to t…