1989 Dewsbury riot
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
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 in the Savile Town area to serve the town's Islamic community.[1] This remains the largest mosque in Britain as of March 2008. The number of Muslims in Dewsbury, especially Savile Town, grew steadily as it gained a reputation as an Islam-friendly community in Britain.
Riot
Over a period of months in early 1989, an increasing number White parents in the Savile Town area withdrew their children from the school in the area, 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/Welsh law. A BNP member with a history of violence named Tim Hepple, 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 counter-demonstrators from Kirklees Black Workers' Association, but later a group of around 800 Asians gathered following 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 whilst the police were diverted to Savile Town.[2]
Fifty-eight arrests were made, the majority of which were Asian. Prison sentences ranged from three months to three years. Two police officers were injured.[2]
Legacy
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]
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.[11]
See also
References
- ^ 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. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2001). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity. p. 171. ISBN 9780814732373.
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- ^ The Press - The Intelligent Weekly.