There may well turn out to have been a significant racial dimension to the violence in England, but, as I write in my piece today, immigrants are as much the victims of this turmoil as they are a cause. The Guardian reports on the deaths of three young men in Birmingham:
The bishop warned of possible reprisals and events “potentially having an ugly race dimension”. Shortly after he spoke, a screaming and swearing African-Caribbean woman challenged a group of British Asians in a side street off Dudley Road, saying: “Your attitude is how riots start,” before a friend bundled her into a car and drove off.
Another group of British Asian men said they had seen the fatal incident, which was over in seconds but saw the victims flung into the air as a black Audi rammed into them. One, who declined to give his name, said: “Of course it was deliberate. No way was it an accident. The driver went on to the pavement and rammed them. He knew what he was doing.”
He said that four carloads of young African-Caribbeans had cruised down Dudley Road and there had been no doubt about what they were planning. He said that he had given evidence to the police.
“These were bright young guys we’ve lost,” he said. “They knew the meaning of work and got themselves decent jobs. The brothers had a carwash which was another business which might have been targeted, and Haroon worked as a mechanic in a garage.
The rest here.