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American Morning

Racial Violence in England a Combination of People, Poverty

Aired May 28, 2001 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Britain is reeling from the worst weekend of racial violence in years. CNN's Margaret Lowrie has more now from London.

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MARGARET LOWRIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The violence on the streets of Oldham has subsided, leaving a community -- indeed, Britain itself -- wondering how things got to this state. Oldham, a town in the greater Manchester area, has large Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities. It also has a mix of poverty and unemployment, which community leaders say helps account for the violence on both sides.

But police and community officials blame outsiders for exacerbating the existing tensions, far-right groups with racist agendas such as the National Front. Indeed, some community leaders say those groups have tried to cause trouble for weeks there.

Officials say the latest trouble escalated Saturday after a group of white men attacked a shop, an Asian home, and a car with an Asian woman and child in it. In turn, gangs of Asian youths gathered, then allegedly launched an assault on a pub where one community activist claims right-wing trouble makers were drinking.

MOHAMMED DAD, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: I mean, you've got to own defend your doorstep, you've got to defend your own house. When you've got people coming into your house, knocking on your door and dragging your family and beating them up, you've got to put a stop to it, and this is it.

LOWRIE: The trouble then escalated into a full-blown confrontation between hundreds of Asian youth and police. Petrol bombs and bricks where thrown and more than a dozen officers injured.

CHIEF SUPT. ERIC HEWITT, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: A lot of us were not prepared for the ferocity and the sheer carnage that took place last night. It's unprecedented. It's never been witnessed ever before in Oldham or any town in greater Manchester.

LOWRIE: Trouble flared again Sunday night, with other pubs attacked and cars set ablaze. Riot police out in force patrolled the streets and arrested more than a dozen people. The violence is under police investigation, but reports here say the initial trouble actually may have been touched off by a row between schoolboys, one Asian and one white, who were seen arguing outside a fast-food outlet on Saturday evening. That may have set off events that culminated in the two nights of rioting.

Margaret Lowrie, CNN, London.

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