Britain’s race riot hotspots revealed

The Government’s race relations advisers compiled a list of areas at risk of race riots following the 2001 disturbances in the North of England.

The head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) at the time named nine “areas at risk” of further riots, aside from the three towns where trouble had already flared.

Gurbux Singh suggested that the Notting Hill Carnival and Asian “mela” festivals could be possible triggers for disturbances.

Riots in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley in the summer of 2001 led to scores of injuries and millions of pounds of damage, and were blamed on segregation of white and Asian residents living “parallel lives”.

The nine other areas named by the CRE were Rochdale, Preston, Bolton, Huddersfield, the London boroughs of Camden and Tower Hamlets, Nottingham, Leeds and the towns of Ilford and Barking in the London borough of Redbridge.

The list was obtained from the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act.

Mr Singh’s letter to then home secretary David Blunkett in June 2001 said: “We have to find new ways of really engaging with young people in these hot spots - both white and Muslim youth.

“It is Muslim youth who are hardest to reach.”

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Source:
Metro