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English City Hit by Second Night of Race Violence
Photos
Reuters Photo
By Kate Kelland
BRADFORD, England (Reuters) - The northern English city of Bradford was quiet early on Monday after an Indian restaurant, an Asian-owned petrol station and a white-owned bar were attacked in a second night of racial violence.
``About 10-15 white youths armed with baseball bats and bricks smashed windows and took the till,'' said the manager of the petrol station, which is close to the restaurant. Police reported a small fire at a white-owned pub in the city.
The overnight violence was on a smaller scale than the race riots which rocked the city on Saturday night, injuring 120 police in some of the worst street violence seen in Britain for years.
``It's generally very quiet,'' a police spokesman told Reuters.
No injuries were reported in the latest violence, which broke out in the northern Greengates area despite a heavy police presence across the city. Many officers were wearing riot gear and were equipped with shields and batons.
Charred vehicles, smashed windows and burned-out buildings marked the streets of the Manningham district, also in the north of the city, after Saturday night's rioting. Thirty-six people were arrested in the violence.
During nine hours of rioting by around 1,000 youths -- mainly Bengalis and Pakistanis from the city's 70,000-strong Asian community -- police came under attack from crossbows, flares, sledgehammers and petrol bombs.
Cars were set on fire and shops looted. Police and local people said a hard core of around 150 rioters stole cars, drove them recklessly at police and members of the public and then torched them in the street.
The violence erupted after the white supremacist National Front planned to hold a rally in the city, some 200 miles (320 km) north of London. Political marches in Bradford had been banned.
National Front members who traveled for the banned rally were outnumbered by anti-racist groups and the event never took place. But tensions between the groups boiled over into violence.
``WANTON VIOLENCE''
Photos
Reuters Photo
By midday on Sunday, Manningham's streets were quiet but local people's anger was clear.
``This was wanton violence. It was mob mentality. These people have a total disregard for law and order and total disrespect for the police,'' said Phil Wood, who lives just around the corner from a car dealership that was set alight.
One Asian resident, a teacher at one of this industrial city's secondary schools who declined to give his name, called the rioters ``mindless thugs just looking for a fight.''
Bradford is the fourth northern English town in recent weeks to be hit by race riots after Oldham, Leeds and Burnley.
Home Secretary (interior minister) David Blunkett said the riots were less about racial tension and more about wanton violence. ``It's to do with people who are prepared to resort to violence and self-destruction in a way which can take us absolutely nowhere,'' he said.
Blunkett said he was prepared to look at calls for the police to be given more powers to deal with such situations, including the use of water cannon and tear gas.
The troubles in Bradford and other northern English towns follow relatively strong national election performances in June by the far-right British National Party, which calls for repatriation of non-white ethnic minorities.
Around five percent of Britain's 57 million population are from ethnic minorities. Some 15 percent of Bradford's 482,000 residents are of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin.
Photos
Reuters Photo
By Kate Kelland
BRADFORD, England (Reuters) - The northern English city of Bradford was quiet early on Monday after an Indian restaurant, an Asian-owned petrol station and a white-owned bar were attacked in a second night of racial violence.
``About 10-15 white youths armed with baseball bats and bricks smashed windows and took the till,'' said the manager of the petrol station, which is close to the restaurant. Police reported a small fire at a white-owned pub in the city.
The overnight violence was on a smaller scale than the race riots which rocked the city on Saturday night, injuring 120 police in some of the worst street violence seen in Britain for years.
``It's generally very quiet,'' a police spokesman told Reuters.
No injuries were reported in the latest violence, which broke out in the northern Greengates area despite a heavy police presence across the city. Many officers were wearing riot gear and were equipped with shields and batons.
Charred vehicles, smashed windows and burned-out buildings marked the streets of the Manningham district, also in the north of the city, after Saturday night's rioting. Thirty-six people were arrested in the violence.
During nine hours of rioting by around 1,000 youths -- mainly Bengalis and Pakistanis from the city's 70,000-strong Asian community -- police came under attack from crossbows, flares, sledgehammers and petrol bombs.
Cars were set on fire and shops looted. Police and local people said a hard core of around 150 rioters stole cars, drove them recklessly at police and members of the public and then torched them in the street.
The violence erupted after the white supremacist National Front planned to hold a rally in the city, some 200 miles (320 km) north of London. Political marches in Bradford had been banned.
National Front members who traveled for the banned rally were outnumbered by anti-racist groups and the event never took place. But tensions between the groups boiled over into violence.
``WANTON VIOLENCE''
Photos
Reuters Photo
By midday on Sunday, Manningham's streets were quiet but local people's anger was clear.
``This was wanton violence. It was mob mentality. These people have a total disregard for law and order and total disrespect for the police,'' said Phil Wood, who lives just around the corner from a car dealership that was set alight.
One Asian resident, a teacher at one of this industrial city's secondary schools who declined to give his name, called the rioters ``mindless thugs just looking for a fight.''
Bradford is the fourth northern English town in recent weeks to be hit by race riots after Oldham, Leeds and Burnley.
Home Secretary (interior minister) David Blunkett said the riots were less about racial tension and more about wanton violence. ``It's to do with people who are prepared to resort to violence and self-destruction in a way which can take us absolutely nowhere,'' he said.
Blunkett said he was prepared to look at calls for the police to be given more powers to deal with such situations, including the use of water cannon and tear gas.
The troubles in Bradford and other northern English towns follow relatively strong national election performances in June by the far-right British National Party, which calls for repatriation of non-white ethnic minorities.
Around five percent of Britain's 57 million population are from ethnic minorities. Some 15 percent of Bradford's 482,000 residents are of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin.
