Two people have been stabbed and many more injured in running battles between white and Asian gangs in Bradford.
Violence broke out in the city centre at 1630 BST after crowds at an Anti-Nazi League rally discovered that National Front sympathisers were gathering in a nearby pub.
When police reinforcements arrived, in full riot gear, anger turned towards them.
Broken bottles, bricks and petrol bombs thrown by the rioters have left a trail of damage and disorder in the city.
By the evening police had made 18 arrests – 11 whites and seven Asians.
The Campaign for Racial Equality’s Commissioner for the North of England, Mohammed Amran, has been demanding to know how the police allowed a peaceful demonstration to get out of hand and why they failed to provide better information.
Police managed to move the rioters out of the city centre and have closed it down.
More than 1,000 people are still confronting police in the Manningham district of the city.
The crowds there are still not under control and disturbances are expected to continue into the night.
This predominantly Asian area was the scene of serious rioting six years ago.
Racial tension in Bradford has erupted into violence twice already this year. In disturbances in May, 80 police officers were injured.
There have also been recent riots in Oldham and Burnley in a summer characterised by racial unrest in Northern towns.
Courtesy BBC News
In context
The following night saw some of the worst violence of the summer. Around 1,000 youths devastated the Manningham area with missiles and fire bombs.
120 police officers were left injured and there were 36 arrests – 13 whites and 23 Asians – only two from outside the area.
Six days after the riots ended, Lord Ouseley published the results of a six month investigation – commissioned before the riots – into race relations in Bradford called Community Pride not Prejudice.
After the clashes a series of reports and cross-departmental groups examined the Northern towns’ racial problems.
These gave the causes as a complex mix of social deprivation, segregation and failings in official policy and police behaviour.
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