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British police investigate petrol bomb attacks

Shyam Bhatia
India Abroad Correspondent in London

Police in the English county of Lancashire are investigating a series of petrol bomb attacks on Thursday night, which they believe were racially motivated.

One petrol bomb was thrown through the window of a predominantly white catholic school in the town of Accrington. Two local businesses were also targeted.

The latest attacks follow recent race riots in the nearby towns of Burnley, Oldham, Leeds and Bradford. They have prompted fears among Asian and white community leaders who said racial tensions could spiral out of control unless urgent preventive measures were adopted.

One Muslim community leader, Shoukat Khwaja of Oldham, said he wants peace talks with the racist British National Party to 'get the hate out of the heart' of the party chairman Nick Griffin.

Griffin received 16 per cent of the vote in the strife-torn constituency of Oldham West and Royton at the general election.

Last week, he told a national news television programme how he had visited Burnley as part of his party's 'strategy' to defuse tensions by offering a political alternative to disgruntled whites.

Griffin has propsed the building of 'peace walls' to physically separate warring white and Asian communities

"In Oldham, Burnley and similar towns, white people are being forced out of their homes by Asian racists and Asian people are being forced out of their homes by white racists," he said in his television interview.

"Unless they are moved peacefully to divide the communities, as the British State has done in Belfast, they are going to be moved by violence, which nobody wants to see," he said.

Last Thursday, leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook told members of parliament, "The only people who gain from violence and the destruction are those extremists who wish to turn racism to their own poisonous political objectives - such as the BNP. It is important that we defeat them."

Cook was responding to a question by Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson who had called for a debate on the 'hopelessness and despair' that resulted from poor social conditions being exploited by the far right.

One member of the House of Lords has also warned the government that the violence seen in Burnley could spread to other towns if steps are not taken to address the underlying causes.

In the adjoining county of Yorkshire, police said they have taken extra precautions to prevent any trouble breaking out at this weekend's annual Bradford mela (festival) of music, food and entertainment.

The Bradford mela is the largest Asian ethnic festival of its kind anywhere in Britain.

Chief Superintendent and Divisional Commander Phil Read said, "We have been with working with organisers since late last year, putting the plans in place.

"A number of measures have been taken to limit the opportunity for disorder. This is going to be a very big and peaceful event for the whole family," Read added.

The police precautions follow the highlighting of a report that says the number of white victims of racist attacks in Bradford has risen 30 per cent in a year to more than 300. One local Asian politician has accused police of being afraid to take on the culprits.

In 1999-2000, whites reported 249 racist attacks in Bradford, but this leapt to 324 during 2000-01. The number of attacks on Asians rose by nine per cent to 275.

Figures from West Yorkshire police reveal the total number of racist attacks in Bradford rose 20 per cent from 584 to 704.

Mohammed Riaz, an adviser to Conservative leader William Hague on ethnic minority affairs and who stood as Conservative candidate in Bradford West in the general election, claimed police forces were reluctant to take on criminals in cities with large ethnic minorities for fear of antagonising them.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire said, "We would be very interested to hear the evidence from Mr Riaz. That isn't our experience."

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