1989 Dewsbury riot: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Riot}} |
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The '''Dewsbury riot''' of 1989 was a minor clash between activists of the [[British National Party]] (BNP) and local [[South Asia]]n youths. |
The '''Dewsbury riot''' of 1989 was a minor clash between activists of the [[British National Party]] (BNP) and local [[South Asia]]n youths. The police used riot gear in controlling the events. |
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==Background== |
==Background== |
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[[Dewsbury]] is a [[mill town]] in [[Yorkshire]], [[England]]. After [[World War II]], it attracted large numbers of immigrants from [[Pakistan]] and the [[Gujarat]] area of [[Western India|West India]]. In 1982, the [[Markazi mosque]] was built in the [[Savile Town]] area to serve the town's [[Islam]]ic community.<ref>[http://www.zmo.de/muslime_in_europa/ergebnisse/reetz/index.html Muslime in Europa<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
[[Dewsbury]] is a [[mill town]] in [[Yorkshire]], [[England]]. After [[World War II]], it attracted large numbers of immigrants from [[Pakistan]] and the [[Gujarat]] area of [[Western India|West India]]. In 1982, the [[Markazi mosque]] was built in the [[Savile Town]] area to serve the town's [[Islam]]ic community.<ref>[http://www.zmo.de/muslime_in_europa/ergebnisse/reetz/index.html Muslime in Europa<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The number of [[Muslim]]s in Dewsbury, especially Savile Town and [[Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury|Ravensthorpe]], grew steadily as it gained a reputation as an Islam-friendly community in Britain. |
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==Riot== |
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Over a period of months in early 1989, an increasing number of white parents in the Savile Town area withdrew their children from the local school, which had become 80% Asian.<ref name=Copsey>{{cite book|title=Anti-Fascism in Britain|last=Copsey|first=Nigel|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317397618}}</ref> In June, the BNP organised a rally to support these parents, whose behaviour was both controversial in the media and illegal under English and Welsh law. Tim Hepple, a BNP member with a history of violence, who was later revealed as an undercover agent,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/informer-exposes-neo-nazi-football-gangs-tim-hepple-who-infiltrated-the-british-national-party-after-1459707.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/informer-exposes-neo-nazi-football-gangs-tim-hepple-who-infiltrated-the-british-national-party-after-1459707.html |archive-date=1 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Informer exposes neo-Nazi football gangs: Tim Hepple, who infiltrated the British National Party after a decade as a football hooligan and neo-Nazi activist, says a new more violent group, Combat 18, is behind many racial attacks, Tim Kelsey reports |last=Kelsey |first=Tim |date=7 August 1993 |access-date=18 April 2020 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> is said to have organised the rally.<ref>{{cite book|page=171 |title=Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity |last=Goodrick-Clarke |first=Nicholas |year=2001 |isbn=9780814732373}}</ref> |
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The rally, in the centre of Dewsbury, was met with a small group of counterdemonstrators from Kirklees Black Workers' Association, but later, a group of around 800 Asians gathered after rumours that the BNP were planning to burn the [[Qur'an]] in public. Heavy-handed policing forced the group of Asians back to Savile Town, which led to fighting and the burning of the Scarborough pub in the area. Many Asian market holders in the centre of Dewsbury reported that they were abused by BNP activists since the police were diverted to Savile Town.<ref name=Copsey/> |
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Protests had taken place all over England with Muslims objecting to the publication of ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' by author [[Salman Rushdie]]. In 1989, the BNP held a rally in Dewsbury which was met with derision from the local Muslim community and a counter rally was held by the black workers group which recruited Muslim youths from Dewsbury, Savile Town and neighbouring suburbs, intent on disruption, including disruption of the rally of the BNP. |
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The police managed to contain the rioting Muslims, wanting to avoid confrontations in the town centre of Dewsbury and rounded them up, pushing them over Savile Bridge and up Savile Road towards Savile Town and the Scarborough Hotel. This public house had long been regarded negatively by the local Muslim community as they did not agree with the sale of alcohol in the same area as them. |
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A number of locals were in the public house that day playing their usual game of cards, including two women, when one of them went to leave the premises and noticed that the neighbouring Muslim fruit and vegetable shop had taken all of its produce inside and had pulled down the shutters, as had the two Muslim shops next door. He then looked down Savile Road towards Dewsbury and saw Muslims, armed with a variety of weapons descending on the pub. He ran inside to warn the other patrons, all of whom ran upstairs to the landlord`s living quarters, just as the first missile came through the window. |
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Wardrobes and furniture were barricaded behind the only entrance door to the premises and this served to keep out the blows from whatever it was that was being used to attempt to break down the door. |
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Meanwhile, downstairs, chairs were thrown on to the road outside, abd all the windows were smashed as was the bar, fixtures and fittings and bottles. Furniture was set fire to and the cars that were in the car park were smashed and destroyed. |
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Throughout all this the police helicopter monitored the scene from the air. When all had been destroyed the perpetrators were moved along by police on horseback and only then were the publican and his patrons able to safely leave the upstairs room having feared for their lives. |
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Fifty-eight people were arrested, most of whom were Asian. Prison sentences ranged from three months to three years. Two police officers were injured.<ref name=Copsey/> |
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A small number of white parents in the town had withdrawn their children from schools in Savile Town due to opposition to the number of children of Muslim parents in the schools. The BNP, formed seven years earlier as a splinter group from the [[National Front (United Kingdom)|National Front]], organised a "Rights for Whites" demonstration in support of the parents. |
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==Legacy== |
==Legacy== |
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The segregation of schools in Dewsbury and the claims by some white parents that they had a "right" to withdraw their children from school have been studied very widely by educationalists.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.1989.9976133?journalCode=cjms20|last=Tomlinson|first=Sally|journal=Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies|pages=461–469|year=1989|volume=15|issue=3|title=Education and Training|doi=10.1080/1369183X.1989.9976133|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=HEIN>{{cite journal|url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jlsocty20&div=27&id=&page=|year=1993|volume=20|issue=2|last=Loveland|first=Ian|journal=Journal of Law and Society|title=Racial Segregation in State Schools: The Parent's Right to Choose|pages=341–355 |doi=10.2307/1410311|jstor=1410311|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=BERJ>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0141192960220504|year=2006|volume=22|issue=5|last=Bagley|first=Carl|journal=British Educational Research Journal|pages=569–580|title=Black and White Unite or Flight? The racialised dimension of schooling and parental choice|doi=10.1080/0141192960220504|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305498970230106|last=Tomlinson|first=Sally|journal=Oxford Review of Education|pages=63–76|year=1997|volume=23|issue=1|title=Diversity, Choice and Ethnicity: the effects of educational markets on ethnic minorities|doi=10.1080/0305498970230106|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=JEP>{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0268093920070501|year=2006|last=Vincent|first=Carol|journal=Journal of Education Policy|pages=429–443|volume=7|issue=5|title=Tolerating intolerance? Parental choice and race relations ‐ the Cleveland case|doi=10.1080/0268093920070501|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098007087335|last=Carling|first=Alan|journal=Urban Studies|title=The Curious Case of the Mis-claimed Myth Claims: Ethnic Segregation, Polarisation and the Future of Bradford|doi=10.1177/0042098007087335|volume=45|issue=3|year=2008|pages=553–589|s2cid=144764407|access-date=22 April 2020}}</ref> In 1990, there were some similar cases of white parents' withdrawing their children from schools in nearby [[Wakefield]], which has a much smaller Asian community; these cases are often covered by the same studies as the Dewsbury withdrawals.<ref name=HEIN/><ref name=BERJ/><ref name=JEP/> |
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Dewsbury is still routinely identified in the media as one of the most racially divided towns in Britain.<ref>[http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/12158/We-must-pay-heed-to.3645462.jp "We must pay heed to angry young men, says senior Tory", ''Yorkshire Post''.<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Its Asian population was estimated at 33% in November 2006.<ref>[http://mondediplo.com/2006/11/02ukmuslims Wendy Kristianasen, "Britain’s multiculturalism falters"] ''Le Monde diplomatique'' (English edition), November 2006.</ref> (This may be lower due to immigration of [[Hungarians]] and [[Kurds]] into the town.) |
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A report by the [[Equality and Human Rights Commission]] in October 2017 mentioned how Dewsbury had become a town divided by religion. Quoting figures from the 2011 Census, the report estimated Dewsbury as a whole as 44% Muslim and Savile Town in particular as 93% Muslim.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Hirst|first1=Andy|last2=Rinne|first2=Sinni|date=October 2017|title=Research Report: Pilot evaluation of Kumon Y'all befriending project|publisher=Equality and Human RIghts Commission|url=https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/prejudice-unlawful-behaviour-anti-prejudice-projects-kumon-yall.pdf|location=UK|pages=5–6}}</ref> |
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In March 2007, the local [[National Health Service|NHS]] estimated Savile Town at "97-100% Muslim".<ref>http://www.kirklees-pct.nhs.uk/fileadmin/documents/meetings/march_07/KPCT-07-42%20Report%20estate%20strategy.doc paragraph 4.3</ref> |
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There have been two further minor riots in Dewsbury: one between Kurds and Pakistanis in 2007, and one between Hungarians and Pakistanis in February 2008.<ref> |
There have been two further minor riots in Dewsbury: one between Kurds and Pakistanis in 2007, and one between Hungarians and Pakistanis in February 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thepressnewspaper.co.uk/NewsDetails.asp?id=1169 |title=''The Press - The Intelligent Weekly''.<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=19 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304022025/http://www.thepressnewspaper.co.uk/NewsDetails.asp?id=1169 |archive-date=4 March 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Latest revision as of 01:10, 3 January 2023
The Dewsbury riot of 1989 was a minor clash between activists of the British National Party (BNP) and local South Asian youths. The police used riot gear in controlling the events.
Background
[edit]Dewsbury is a mill town in Yorkshire, England. After World War II, it attracted large numbers of immigrants from Pakistan and the Gujarat area of West India. In 1982, the Markazi mosque was built in the Savile Town area to serve the town's Islamic community.[1] The number of Muslims in Dewsbury, especially Savile Town and Ravensthorpe, grew steadily as it gained a reputation as an Islam-friendly community in Britain.
Riot
[edit]Over a period of months in early 1989, an increasing number of white parents in the Savile Town area withdrew their children from the local school, which had become 80% Asian.[2] In June, the BNP organised a rally to support these parents, whose behaviour was both controversial in the media and illegal under English and Welsh law. Tim Hepple, a BNP member with a history of violence, who was later revealed as an undercover agent,[3] is said to have organised the rally.[4]
The rally, in the centre of Dewsbury, was met with a small group of counterdemonstrators from Kirklees Black Workers' Association, but later, a group of around 800 Asians gathered after rumours that the BNP were planning to burn the Qur'an in public. Heavy-handed policing forced the group of Asians back to Savile Town, which led to fighting and the burning of the Scarborough pub in the area. Many Asian market holders in the centre of Dewsbury reported that they were abused by BNP activists since the police were diverted to Savile Town.[2]
Fifty-eight people were arrested, most of whom were Asian. Prison sentences ranged from three months to three years. Two police officers were injured.[2]
Legacy
[edit]The segregation of schools in Dewsbury and the claims by some white parents that they had a "right" to withdraw their children from school have been studied very widely by educationalists.[5][6][7][8][9][10] In 1990, there were some similar cases of white parents' withdrawing their children from schools in nearby Wakefield, which has a much smaller Asian community; these cases are often covered by the same studies as the Dewsbury withdrawals.[6][7][9]
A report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in October 2017 mentioned how Dewsbury had become a town divided by religion. Quoting figures from the 2011 Census, the report estimated Dewsbury as a whole as 44% Muslim and Savile Town in particular as 93% Muslim.[11]
There have been two further minor riots in Dewsbury: one between Kurds and Pakistanis in 2007, and one between Hungarians and Pakistanis in February 2008.[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Muslime in Europa
- ^ a b c Copsey, Nigel (2016). Anti-Fascism in Britain. Routledge. ISBN 9781317397618.
- ^ Kelsey, Tim (7 August 1993). "Informer exposes neo-Nazi football gangs: Tim Hepple, who infiltrated the British National Party after a decade as a football hooligan and neo-Nazi activist, says a new more violent group, Combat 18, is behind many racial attacks, Tim Kelsey reports". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2001). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. p. 171. ISBN 9780814732373.
- ^ Tomlinson, Sally (1989). "Education and Training". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 15 (3): 461–469. doi:10.1080/1369183X.1989.9976133. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ a b Loveland, Ian (1993). "Racial Segregation in State Schools: The Parent's Right to Choose". Journal of Law and Society. 20 (2): 341–355. doi:10.2307/1410311. JSTOR 1410311. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ a b Bagley, Carl (2006). "Black and White Unite or Flight? The racialised dimension of schooling and parental choice". British Educational Research Journal. 22 (5): 569–580. doi:10.1080/0141192960220504. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Tomlinson, Sally (1997). "Diversity, Choice and Ethnicity: the effects of educational markets on ethnic minorities". Oxford Review of Education. 23 (1): 63–76. doi:10.1080/0305498970230106. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ a b Vincent, Carol (2006). "Tolerating intolerance? Parental choice and race relations ‐ the Cleveland case". Journal of Education Policy. 7 (5): 429–443. doi:10.1080/0268093920070501. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Carling, Alan (2008). "The Curious Case of the Mis-claimed Myth Claims: Ethnic Segregation, Polarisation and the Future of Bradford". Urban Studies. 45 (3): 553–589. doi:10.1177/0042098007087335. S2CID 144764407. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Hirst, Andy; Rinne, Sinni (October 2017). "Research Report: Pilot evaluation of Kumon Y'all befriending project" (PDF). UK: Equality and Human RIghts Commission. pp. 5–6.
- ^ "The Press - The Intelligent Weekly". Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2008.