Re: Indo-Canadian gangs?
Black Gangs fearful of Pakistani Gangs in UK
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1035460/posts
UK:Pakistani gangs are targeting us, say fearful black youths
Telegraph ^
Posted on 12/06/2003 7:42:30 PM PST by milestogo
Pakistani gangs are targeting us, say fearful black youths
(Filed: 07/12/2003)
Thirty years after Afro-Caribbeans in Walsall successfully fought off white skinhead thugs, their children face a fresh wave of attacks - this time from Asians, reports David Harrison.
Friday night in Walsall town centre. As hundreds of young people pour into the town’s pubs and clubs a small group of Asian youths stands apart on a piece of wasteland 100 yards from the high street.
There are about 12 of them, all ethnic Pakistanis aged between 15 and 20, wearing casual clothes and surly expressions. They are not interested in partying, because they have something else on their mind: black-bashing. Their targets are Afro-Caribbean youths and their weapons are racial abuse, baseball bats and knives.
In recent months Pakistani youths have threatened and assaulted dozens of Afro-Caribbean teenagers, according to leaders of the black community. Some have been roughed up; others seriously injured.
The town’s 4,500-strong Afro-Caribbean population is increasingly concerned: they say that the attacks are racially-motivated and are becoming more frequent and more vicious.
“This is a secret war,” said Moses Whyte, a former Labour councillor and an adviser with Tora, a charity that works closely with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. "The police don’t want to know because they see this as a black-on-black thing. But we cannot take much more of these attacks.
“If nothing is done there will be a race riot and things will get very nasty. It will not be pretty.”
Mr Whyte, who came to Britain from the West Indies in 1961 aged 18 and joined the Army, serving in the Staffordshire regiment, said he found it “very strange” that the Pakistanis had gone from victims to aggressors in a generation.
“In the Seventies we used to help protect the Asians from what was called Paki-bashing by white skinheads. Now their children are the ones doing the bashing and they are targeting our children, young blacks. It’s madness.”
A group of black teenagers - too frightened to give their names - told how they were afraid to leave their houses, even to get a pint of milk from the shop, because they feared they would be harassed, verbally abused or beaten.
“I hardly ever go out now,” said one 18-year-old who was set upon by a Pakistani gang last month. "They call us niggers and say they want to drive us off what they say is their turf.
“You try to fight back but they always outnumber the people they attack. It’s always 10 against one or 15 against two. We don’t want any trouble. We just want to live a normal life.”
A growing number of attacks take place outside local schools. One 15-year-old was assaulted by about 10 Pakistanis on Thursday. “I said hello to one of them because I had seen him around,” the victim explained. “Then he came up behind me and punched me really hard on the back of the neck. The next minute they were all punching and kicking me.” He was saved from serious injury when adults intervened and dragged the assailants off him.
Mr Whyte accused the leaders of the town’s 20,000 Asians of failing to take action to curb the violent gangs. “I have spoken to them about the problem so they are aware of it, but they don’t do anything about it,” he said. “They are burying their heads in the sand.”
Last weekend, Darcus Howe, the black journalist and broadcaster, returned to Walsall to film a programme about the town, 20 years after he worked and lived there. He told how he was confronted by a group of angry Pakistani youths, who threatened to attack him.
“They told me of their violent hostility to West Indians and threatened to break my legs,” he said. “Pakistani nationalism is their stock-in trade. ‘We are Muslims’, they said, ‘and nobody likes us’.”
Senior Muslim figures told the Telegraph, however, that they were unaware of any racial attacks. Maulana Luqman, an imam at the predominantly-Pakistani Abu-Bakr education trust, said: “We are indoors most of the time so we don’t really know what is happening on the streets.”
Another Muslim leader said: “I don’t think we have a particular problem with violent youths. That is not the Muslim way.” When the black victims’ stories were put to him he replied: “This is the first I have heard about this.”
Leroy McCoy, a voluntary “mentor” for young Afro-Caribbeans, said that the “Pakistani problem” had increased since the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on America two years ago. “They have definitely become more aggressive, more nationalistic since then,” he said.
That nationalism - not for Britain, but for Pakistan - was evident last week during the Eid celebrations at the end of Ramadan when Asian youths drove around the town waving large Pakistani flags from their cars.
The rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism in the Midlands may also be a factor. One of four terrorist suspects held by police last week - a 26-year-old man - was arrested at Walsall’s BTExchange. Two others were from nearby Dudley.
Mr McCoy said that the Pakistanis used Islam as a “unifying factor” and had become more hostile to non-Muslims “because they feel the rest of the world has become anti-Muslim since September 11”.
He said that blacks had been “stereotyped as society’s bad guys for years” but added: “This time we are the victims and the Asian community has to take responsibility for what its young men are doing. We are trying to engage properly with society but the Asian thugs are trying to drive us out.”
A spokesmen for the town’s 15,000 Sikhs stressed that they had no part in any street attacks. A priest at the Sikh temple in the Pleck district said: “We condemn all violence.”
He blamed the problem on the breakdown of traditional families, discipline and respect. “It’s not racial hatred as much as deprivation, boredom and a desire for violence,” he said.
A spokesman for the Walsall police said that there had been reports of assaults in recent months but none had been classed as racial.
Mr Whyte said it was time for the police to open their eyes. “It’s always Pakistanis attacking Afro-Caribbeans and talking about ‘killing niggers’. Of course they are racial attacks,” he said. “If police ignore the violence then it will get out of control. Then they will find themselves dealing with something much bigger.”
