Racial tensions spark UK election riot fears

Growing friction between the far right and Muslims could culminate in serious civil unrest at election time, says an expert.

Men shout slogans during a demonstration by the English Defence League in Birmingham, England, earlier this month.

LONDON // Increasing tensions between sections of the white and Muslim communities in Britain could lead to riots in the run-up to next year's general election, an expert in race relations predicted. Arun Kundnani, an author and member of the Institute of Race Relations, said that the adoption of far-right rhetoric by the main political parties when they campaigned on issues such as immigration, Muslims in Britain and national identity could lead to violence. His comments came a week after a recently formed group calling itself the English Defence League (EDL) was involved in violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters and Asian youths in Birmingham. The EDL was formed earlier this year to "counter Islamic extremism" after a small group of Muslims branded British servicemen "butchers" as they paraded through the town of Luton on their return from Iraq. The EDL is believed to be made up of predominantly white, former members of the "firms" that used to organise violence at football matches in England. On Friday, riot police had to intervene to quell clashes between Muslims and another, hitherto unknown, group of white, anti-Islamic extremists protesting outside a London mosque on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Police moved in after a crowd of angry Muslim youths, some wearing face masks, threw sticks and stones at a small group of protesters near the mosque in Harrow in north-west London. The demonstration was organised by Stop Islamification of Europe, whose motto is: "Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense." John Denham, the secretary of state for communities and local government, on Saturday described the tactics of the anti-Muslim groups as similar to those employed by fascists against Jews in the 1930s. "I believe the English Defence League is not a large group, but they clearly have amongst them people who know exactly what they are doing," he said in a statement. "If you look at the types of demonstrations they have organised, the language used and the targets chosen, it looks pretty clear that it's a tactic designed to provoke, to get a response and create violence. "It's important that we, right across government, make sure this does not happen." It is not, however, only whites involved in the growing number of confrontations with Muslim communities, most of whose two million members in the UK originate from the Indian subcontinent. Muslims in south London have been advised to travel in groups to prayers during the remainder of Ramadan following two gang attacks, one of them fatal, on mosque-goers. Groups of black youths carried out both attacks in the Tooting area, one of which led to the death last week of Ekram Haque, 67. Mr Haque, a retired care worker originally from India, received a fatal beating from a gang of four or five youths as he stood outside a mosque with members of his family, including his three-year-old granddaughter. The day after Mr Haque died, an unnamed 30-year-old Muslim man, whose family was originally from the subcontinent, suffered head injuries when he was assaulted by a different gang outside another mosque in Tooting. Although community leaders in the area insisted yesterday that there were no interracial problems between local black and Muslim communities, police have increased patrols in the area and set up CCTV cameras near mosques. "People are very concerned. In both cases the main target has been a Muslim. Nobody knows why at the moment," said Aniz Jussab, the secretary of Balham Mosque and Tooting Islamic Centre. Mr Kundnani told Sky News that the ruling Labour Party in particular had been guilty of adopting rhetoric similar to that of the far-right British National Party in an attempt to win back voters in core, inner-city areas. Citing such phrases as "British jobs for British workers", which was used by Gordon Brown, the premier, during a speech at a party rally, Mr Kundnani said: "There has been a progressive increase in far-right politics over the past eight years. "In pretty much every election in that period, the BNP have increased their support, culminating in the election of their two MEPs [in European Parliament elections in the spring] and we've seen the emergence of groups like the EDL, which are more focused on street violence." He said that irresponsible campaigning by the major political parties could trigger riots in the run-up to the election, similar to the ones seen in several towns in northern England in 2001. Nick Lowles, editor of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, says that, in the 1980s and 1990s, the "hooligans" who now comprise much of the EDL perceived the main threat to "English masculinity" as coming from the IRA's mainland bombing campaign. "They associated themselves with the loyalist movement and the chant 'no surrender to the IRA' was popular at football grounds around the country," he says. "Now many see what they term 'Islamist extremism' as the biggest threat. "While [the EDL] is not a fascist organisation, there are a handful of organised fascists in key positions. We are concerned that, as the EDL grows, it will attract more extremists and fascists. "We saw the effects of hooligan incursions into Oldham and Bradford in the 2001 riots and we must ensure that small groups of racists cannot whip up and incite this sort of trouble again. "The authorities have a responsibility to local communities to protect them from violence. We have witnessed enough of the EDL to know that they want to whip up trouble wherever possible. They must nip this problem in the bud." [e-mail]