UK Race Related Incidents 2001

JANUARY 2001

Eastern Eye 5 Jan 01 Cabbie murdered in Rotherham

Safraz Khan, father of one, was murdered in the early hours of 23 Dec 00 after he went to pick up a fare. Post mortem revealed that Sarfraz was repeatedly  - once through the heart and then set alight. A suspect, Craig Gilbert, 26, was arrested and remanded in custory by South Yorkshire police.

 

E Eye, Jan 01 Arson attack on an Asian family

A bunch of racist yobs tried to burn an Asian family alive by setting fire to their Berkshire home. They poured a chemical over the garden and porch of the family's West Drayton house. At the time, the family were praying in their bedroom. A member said: 'I heard a sudden roar of flames and foorsteps outside. Smoke started filling in downstairs.' The family have lost both their parents and the house holds their 'biggest memory'. Det Insp Kim Tuffin of Uxbridge CID said: 'We are treating this matter very seriously and hope people's good conscience will prompt somebody to call use with information.'

 

FEBRUARY  2001 

India Weekly, 16 Feb 01: Waiter crippled. Abuser fined & sentence to 210 hours community service

In Nov 00, Mohamed Jan was working in the kitchen of the Adaab in Shipley when John March of Bolton Woods started shouting racial abuse to the staff after a late night meal. As he left he continued with the abuse and referred to the stabbing of a Leeds United fan in Turkey. The abuse disturbed Jan and sent him crashing into the side of a passing lorry. Surgeons first inserted metal rods into his right leg but eventually had to amputate. Jan, dad of 2, says he is serving a life sentence because of his disability and still has nightmares about the accident. John March was sentenced to 210 hours community service and a fine of £75 relating to lost business.

 

Socialist Worker, 8 Dec 00 & E Eye Feb 01 Accused walks free. Family vows civil action

Prosecutors failed for the second time in 2 years to convict anyone for the murder of Surjit Singh Chokkar, 32. The Sikh was stabbed through the heart outside his home in Lanarkshire in Nov 1998. Three men were charged, stood trial together but days later 2 were released by the Crown Office without explanation. The Chokkar family was devastated. Said legal spokesman Aamer Anwar: 'There are 2 systems of justice in this country - one for whites and one for Asians.' The family intends to pursue civil action.

 

MARCH  2001

Daily Mail, 27 Mar 01: Race hate in restaurants

Met police have initiated scheme Operation Poet to crack down on race hate in Indian, Chinese & Thai restaurants. Plainclothes officers visit restaurants to check on customer behaviour like non-payment, verbal & physical attacks on staff.

I Weekly, 30 March 01: Asian man left brain damaged

A gang of teenagers attacked Tarlochan Anand, 46, of Leicester and left him brain damaged outside his off-licence in May 2000. He was repeatedly kicked and punched. He will be severely disabled for the rest of his life. The gang on the rampage on the lookout for a victim - they were Miranda Walsh, 16; James Green, 17; Loroy James, 17; Stacey Granger, 17; Jordan Charles, 19. They all admitted guilt and remanded in to custody.

APRIL 2001 [Cases in plum colour are from CARF 2001]
9^th: Dean Harrison, 20, racially abuses & attacks staff of Indian takeaway in Nottingham. Sentenced to 2 years.

12^th: two white youths racially abuse & attack Bila Kasbia, 51, while sitting in his car in Bristol.

 

Independent, 4 April 01, I Weekly, 13 April  & S Worker, 14 April Bangladeshi murdered in Bow, East London.

Shiblu Rahman was stabbed, managed to drag himself to his flat and later died from his wounds in hospital. Shiblu's brothers were denied access to his flat by the police. They questioned him for around 30 minutes as he lay dying, getting his wife to translate. When the ambulance eventually arrived, none of the family were allowed to travel with Shiblu to the hospital. Neither were they allowed to see him before he died. Some questions asked:

1. Why did the ambulance take 40 minutes to arrive?

2. Why were some family members not allowed to accompany the dying man in the ambulance to the hospital?

3. Why was Shiblu's wife not allowed to see her husband in hospital before be died?

Dr Cyriac Maprayil, director of Tower Hamlets race Equality Council (THREC) said: 'Despite the Home Sec's assurance on safe home & streets, murders like this are frequent. It shows the contempt that racists have for the law. The community feels desperate, frustrated and helpless. Despite firm commitments from leading ministers - including the PM - there is no noticeable decrease in racist violence throughout the country. There seems to be a well-organised conspiracy to terrorise the Ethnic minority communities in the hope they will pack up  and 'go back to where they came form' '.

[=> Asian Voice, Dec 01] A white youth, 16, was convicted of killing Shiblu with a knife. Despite his dying please, Rahman, 34, was mercilessly kicked and stabbed in the early hours of 1 April 01. Terry Cooper, 17, was found guilty of manslaughter.

 

21^st: two whites racially abuse and assault Asian cabbie in Oldham.

24^th: pack of 30 youths brutally beat up two Palestinian refugees in Glasgow.

26^th: father drops 3-month baby when he is punched to the ground by racists in Glasgow.

27^th: two schoolboys, both 14, abused by gang of 4 skinheads. One’s jaw broken.

30^th: three racists jailed after attacking Ashni Kumar (restaurant owner) in Corby, Northants.

30^th: Bangladeshi family subjected to two racist attacks in 3 days at home in Bristol. Family friend, 19, stabbed. 

MAY 2001

1^st: black teacher, Priscilla Bennett, racially abused by pupils for 15 months in Basildon, Essex. Vindicated by industrial tribunal.

1^st: Asian takeaway attacked in Oldham. Two whites charged.

3^rd: black man, 46, assaulted in Southwark. White attacker, Pettifor, jailed for 10 months.

5^th: white gang of 40 abuse & kick Asian teenagers in Bradford

6^th: Asian family subjected to racist abuse and Nazi salutes by white man outside their home in Yorkshire.

8^th: asylum seeker Abbas, 31, punched, kicked and stabbed by 3 whites in Glasgow. Suffers serious head injuries.

16^th: Pakistani family narrowly escape injury after a hand grenade was thrown in their living room in West London.

17^th: Ken Leverson, ex-police offer, harassed and racially abused black lady, Noella Huggins, staff at Newport police station for several years.

24^th:  £1000 damage to car of black family, Adejumo, in South London in a campaign of race attacks.

I Weekly, 24 May 01   3-year race hate campaign against Asian boy

The parents of an Asian boy spoke of the hate campaign against their son. Two white boys 10 & 11 'threatened him continually when he walks home from school.' Their grandmother shouted: 'Your kind should not be allowed into this country, you lot are trouble makers.'  The Daily Mail wrote 2 pages in support of these boys. The charge of racially aggravated assault was dropped. Said Sam Budu, director of the Ipswich & Suffolk REC: 'I am appalled by the press treating it as a school incident. It took place outside the school and there is a history of racism suffered by the Asian family. A similar had happened before.' The boy's family has reported 17 incidents of race harassment on their estate.The CPS initially decided to prosecute but dropped the charge in the 'public interest'. A month before a judge had described the case as 'using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.' The Asian boy had called one of the white boys a teletubby but the context was not reported.  

I Weekly, 8 June 01:  Unprovoked fire attack on Asian

Around midnight on 25 May 01, a Sikh Asian, 21, was sprayed with flammable liquid on his torso and set alight. He & his cousin were approached by 2 white men in a mostly Asian area and racially abused, then sprayed. He was taken to Sutton Coldfield Hospital and later transferred to the burns unit at Selly Oak Hospital. Det Insp Bernstein said: 'The injuries are dreadful. His face is well skinned, his hair singed and his right hand severely burnt.' Said Maxie Hayles, chair of the Birmingham Race Attacks Monitoring Unit (BRAMU): 'I do not understand why the police have not told us about this incident. To them to call it one-off is false.' An Asian resident said: 'Birmingham has always had problems with racism. To set fire to someone is horrible. Clearly race attacks are on the rise.'

JUNE 2001
S Worker 7 June 01 - Home of Asian deputy mayor of Oldham firebombed
Riaz Ahmad, deputy Mayor of Oldham, found a petrol bomb thrown into a bedroom window of the house where he, his wife and 4 children were sleeping. The NF has spent the last few weeks to whip up hatred in the town  and BNP are stadning in all 3 seat that cover Oldham. Three carloads of 14 BNP members have been canvassing & delivering their racist paper Voice of Freedom. The police said this is 'legitimate election activity'.

1^st:  six white youths force out Asian driver from his cab, beat and rob him in Lincoln.

5^th: Daniel Franey, 13, placed under anti-social order by judge for racist abuse & attacks on black community in Liverpool.

6^th: Mohamed Kavani, 34, has his jaw broken after beating from skinheads in Oldham

19^th: 30 white youths dressed in KKK gear erect and burn a cross in Caledonian Road, North London.

14^th: three white men arrested  after Asian man is stabbed and his son hurt after racist attack in Blackburn.

15^th: white youth, 19, jailed after racist attack on Asian man in Mirfield.

17^th: two Turkish workers in pizza shop abused and attacked by two white men in Carlisle.

22^nd: a Moroccan man, 23, beaten unconscious by gang of 40 in Edinburgh. Head swells to twice its size.

24^th: two Asian men punched  and kicked in racist attack by 3 whites in Sutton Coldfield.

25^th: gang of 20 youths pelt Asdians with stones and bricks on Southend seafront.

30^th: Asian family of 7 forced to flee after arson attack guts their home in Accrington.

Source: CARF issues 62, 63 (June-Sept 2001)

 

(July-Dec 01)

JULY 2001

I Weekly, 6 July 01 - Firebomb attack on home - Iqbal family flee

A family - including a child of 7 - narrowly escaped injury after a firebomb attack on their home in the early hours of Saturday. The Iqbal family were asleep when a burning substance was thrown through a downstairs window of their home in Accrington, Lancashire. The eldest son woke from the smell and phoned his father aged 50 to tell him about the fire. The father said the family has been targeted on numerous occasions in the last 6 years - the reason he shut the shop in 1999. Iqbal thought the harassment would stop once he had closed shop but he has had his windows broken. The family will be housed by an adjacent council. The police said they a 20-strong team working on the case.

 

4^th: Housing Association in West London ordered to pay £3500 compensation to a black family for 3 years of race harassment from white tenants.

 

10^th: black boy, 16, suffers fractured shoulder after racist attack by gang of 12 in Southwark

13^th: white soldier jailed for 4 years for manslaughter of black man Glyne Agard.

 

13^th: David Young, 16, banned for 10 years from Cheltenham after campaign of racist abuse in the area.

16^th: John Hudson, 19, found guilty of racial attack on 2 Iraqi refugees.

 

23^rd: gang of 30 skinheads racially abuse and attack Asian taxi drivers in Bolton.

24^th: Ali Zahid Bukhari, 24, suffers a collapsed lung after white gang racially abuse and attack him and two friends in New Malden, Surrey. (12 arrested.)

 

28^th: Asian boy, 15, left in coma after vicious attack by two skinheads in Sutton, Surrey.

AUGUST

5^th: Kurdish refugee, Firsat Dag, stabbed to death on Sighthill estate, Glasgow. Another Kurdish asylum seeker has throat cut by a racist gang of 20 in Hull.

7^th: Chinese man, 20, on takeaway delivery racially abused and attacked by 3 white men in Norwich.

8^th: Davoud Rasul (Iranian), 20, stabbed in the back in racist attack in Glasgow.

9^th: Hounslow police officer forced to resign after found guilty of using racist language in a burglary investigation in 1999.

17^th: Syrian man racially abused by 3 whites on a train between Glasgow & Hamilton.

20^th: Racists draw swastikas on 6-year old boy, then send him to an Asian shop in Bradford.

21^th: 15 Asian boys on holiday in Isle of Wight attacked by gang of white youths. As a result, five were hospitalized.

30^th: Matthew Dorrian, 20, pleads guilty to manslaughter of Gian Singh Nagra in Elm Park, London.

 

SEPTEMBER   [Race incidents rise dramatically after attacks on New York]
13^th: walls of Mosque in Southend, Essex defaced by grafitti.

14^th: Lebanese woman in hijab was punched in the face, fell and wass severely injured.

15^th: Asian woman, 19, beaten repeatedly with baseball bats by skinheads in Swindon.

Mosque in South end vandalised.

Two Asian councillors were attacked & injured in Smethwick, Birmingham.

16^th: Hamid Gharwal, 28, Afghan taxi-driver, attacked in Twickenham and left paralysed by a white gang of three. Windows of Glasgow central mosque smashed.
17^th: Bolton mosque petrol bombed. Likewise in Didsbury, Manchester, the mosque was firebombed

(This is just a small sample of incidents against Muslims.)

21^st : Vandals force a nursery in Kingston to close down after spraying racist grafitti and causing other damage

24^th: Black teacher Priscilla Bennett won $45,000 damages against her school in Basildon (Essex) for failing to protect from children’s racist abuse.

OCTOBER  
9^th : Asian man, 19, stabbed in the abdomen by gang of white youths in Blackburn

Asian woman, 29, attacked by gang of 15 youths in Gloucester while car waited at a railway crossing

21^st : 40 fans arrested for chanting racist slogans at a football match in Staffordshire

 

25^th : Two inquiries into murder of Surjit Chokkar

1) criticised decision to charge only one person 2) found evidence of institutional racism

NOVEMBER

5^th : Gang of armed men rammed their car to break into a hostel housing Afghan & Iranian asylum seekers and injured two.

 

7^th : Racial attack on 14-year old boy with bat. Skulled fractured.

15^th : Iranian woman, 55, stabbed in the face in racist attack outside her home in Worthing, Sussex

 

16^th : Black builder, Kelly Davis, awarded £790,000 in damages from Bath & Somerset Council for persistent refusal of planning permission

 

Source: CARF issues 64-65 (2001) & Muslim News (London,2001)