• Friday, March 29, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

Leicester violence: Half of those arrested came from outside county, says report

Leicester Police personnel (iStock)

By: Shubham Ghosh

While situation in Leicester in the UK remained tense over the violence between Hindu and Muslim communities over the weekend, the Guardian reported that almost half of the 18 people that have been arrested came from outside the county.

Of eight people who were found to be outsiders, five came from Birmingham, one from Solihull, one from Luton and one from Hounslow, the report added.

Sir Peter Soulsby, mayor of Leicester, said it seemed to be the initial evidence that people travelled to Leicester to participate in the violence.

“It does suggest that there are people with other battles to fight who are coming to Leicester to fight them. It’s distressing that they choose to do it in our city. We pride ourselves on good relations between communities,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.

“I have talked to many people across the communities since this trouble began, and they are utterly baffled by this. It does not represent anything that is simmering in Leicester, and does seem to have more to do with subcontinental politics,” he added.

Tense standoffs were seen between men from the two communities and the police on Saturday (17) evening. On Sunday (18), a demonstration took place in reaction to an unplanned protest staged by Hindu men, who marched through the city, the previous day.

Videos went viral online over the weekend showing one person pulling down a flag outside a Hindu temple on Melton Road, Leicester, while a flag being burned on another occasion. These videos aggravated the situation more.

The Indian high commission to the UK issued a statement on Monday (19) strongly condemning the “the violence perpetrated against the Indian community in Leicester, and vandalisation of premises and symbols of Hindu religion”.

“We have strongly taken up this matter with the UK authorities and have sought immediate action against those involved in these attacks,” it added.

Soulsby told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the same day that social media was making things worse by exacerbating tensions and there was “no obvious local cause” for such clashes in “an otherwise very peaceful city”.

“I’ve seen quite a selection of the social media stuff which is very distorting now and some of it just completely lying about what had been happening between different communities,” he said.

Several people said they saw men wearing masks and balaclavas chanting “Jai Shri Ram”(hail Lord Ram) — a chant which has become synonymous with Hindutva politics in India.

Yasmin Surti, who has worked with the Leicester community for 30 years, told the Guardian that it should be asked about why the law-keepers allowed the group to march through the city since it made many Muslims in the area feel unsafe.

“Hindus and Muslims in Leicester have been living together peacefully for many years,” she added.

The police have said that the violence which took place in the wake of a cricket match between India and Pakistan last month was not initially along religious lines, contrary to what some social media posts claimed.

Gurharpal Singh, an emeritus professor of Sikh and Punjab studies at SOAS University of London and visiting fellow at the University at Leicester, said while Leicester remained a model of multiculturalism, there was an underlying divide.

“These tensions which have risen are now I think part of broader social change that is occurring within the city,” said Singh. “Also, one perhaps should not rule out the increasing influence of homeland politics, you know, the mobilisation of the diaspora by the BJP (India’s ruling party led by prime minister Narendra Modi).”

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