Racial tension infests London; teenager killed
Tuesday October 25 2005 00:00 IST
IANS
LONDON: A teenager died of gunshot wounds in hospital on Monday after a weekend of rioting between Asians and blacks in the city of Birmingham, about 160 km from here.
The 18-year-old died in hospital after he was shot close to the scene of the riots, which police said had been fuelled by "rumour, myth and speculation" that a 14-year-old Jamaican girl had been gang-raped by Pakistani men.
On Saturday, a 23-year-old black man was stabbed to death by Pakistani youths.
Two men have been arrested over the latest death in the Newtown area of Birmingham but police are not yet saying if it is linked to the riots.
The riots were sparked off by an unsubstantiated rumour - circulated widely by a local radio DJ - that a Jamaican girl who was caught shoplifting was raped by Pakistani men when she pleaded for leniency.
Police were never called, apparently because the girl is an illegal immigrant, and no one knows when the rape took place.
Meanwhile the rumour kept circulating for six days until it boiled over into Saturday's violence in which young men used petrol bombs, knives and guns.
During the disturbances, which lasted over an hour, shops were attacked, cars set on fire and hundreds of police in riot gear were confronted with bricks and bottles.
A police officer was shot in the leg with a ball-bearing gun, one of 12 gunshot incidents. Up to 35 people were taken to hospital for treatment.
Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw from West Midlands police described the violence as "entirely unacceptable". Police said the riots began when "outsiders" tried to barge into a church during a briefing meeting for the African-Caribbean community.
Police said forensic experts had been to the location of the alleged attack on the girl in the Lozells area but received no formal complaint.
Despite a heavy police presence, further disturbances took place on Sunday night in the Lozells area, after gangs of youths gathered in response to an alleged attack on a nearby mosque.
Police were also called to Melbourne Avenue, more than a kilometre from Lozells, Sunday night in response to reports that a man had been seen with a firearm in the area. |