Clashes in racially tense town leave at least 20 hurt
By Laura King/AP
The riot-torn town of Oldham awoke to more broken glass, but police said they were able to prevent the street battles and firebombing that had raged for three days beginning May 26.
Hundreds of extra officers patrolled the fire-scorched northern English town overnight, maintaining a tense peace in a diverse community now split along racial lines.
Anger erupted into violence several times, but it was mild compared to the scene over the first few days. On Wednesday, a 15-year-old boy was arrested, bringing the total number of riot-related arrests to 50.
The riot apparently was sparked when a gang of white youths attacked a home in a neighborhood where most residents are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Indian origin, police said. Soon after, a group of about 100 youths from the neighborhood attacked a pub mainly patronized by whites.
At the height of the clashes — which continued off and on for seven hours, into the early hours of Sunday — up to 500 youths fought pitched battles with police in full riot gear. The fighting left the main thoroughfare in the town’s Glodwick district littered with broken bricks, shards of glass and the hulks of several burned-out cars.
Paul Barrow, proprietor of a pub that was trashed in the fighting, said rioters burst in and began beating his patrons. “The first of them got through the door and attacked the customers with whatever they could get their hands on — bottles, stools and glasses,” he said.
Oldham, a hardscrabble former mill town, has been beset by racial tensions for several months. Between one-quarter and one-fifth of its population are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. Many arrived in the 1960s or 1970s to work in the textile industry.
Earlier this year, in an incident that made national headlines, a 76-year-old white man was badly beaten by a gang of youths in an attack he said was racially motivated.
Alarmed by the volatile atmosphere, the government prohibited political rallies in the town, but a right-wing group defied the ban earlier this month, resulting in more than a dozen arrests.
The violence came less than two weeks before Britain’s general election. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government urged politicians to avoid remarks that might inflame racial tensions.
Patricia Hewitt, the trade and industry minister, said the subjects of immigration and political asylum were sometimes used to “whip up” racial prejudice.
“There is a responsibility on politicians from all political parties not to inflame people’s fears or stir up racial prejudice,” she said on a GMTV network broadcast.
On the same program, Simon Hughes of the opposition Liberal Democrat Party accused the Conservative Party and its leader, William Hague, of contributing to a climate of intolerance.
Alluding to the Conservatives’ campaign for tough restrictions on asylum seekers, Hughes said, “It may not have a direct effect but it doesn’t help, and in some cases it may well encourage people to think they can get away with intolerant language and intolerant attitudes and sometimes intolerant behavior.”
South Asian community leaders blame the riots on the activities of the ultra-right-wing National Front, which stepped up its presence in the town after reports of South Asian gang violence and the creation of “no-go zones” for whites. |
