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Drunken yobs launched bricks and machete raid, claims family

1/ 7/2002

TWO Rochdale pensioners say they are living in fear of their lives after machete wielding racists attacked their family home.

Sixty-year-old Anwara Khatun of Waterman View, Belfield was at home with her daughter-in-law when thugs threw a large brick through their front living room window and then tried to hack their way into the house. When police finally arrived on the scene Mrs Khatun claimed they failed to take a statement from her and her family but searched their house after the thugs accused them of attacking them with knives.

Because of earlier harassment the family had installed their own 'spy camera' and they say they have given police a video of the incident.

Trouble erupted when the group of young men started kicking a football at the house of Mrs Khatun's son, Mofojul Ali. Mofojul, who lives on the same street as his mother, said he told them to leave. He said they then walked towards Mrs Khatun's house prompting him to call the police.

He ran to his mother's home as one of the men threw two large bricks through the front room and upstairs windows. At this point Mrs Khatun's other son, Monjur Ali, arrived at the scene. The family says he was then attacked by four of the men.

As he struggled with his assailants Monjur said another four men, one wielding a machete, ran towards him. He says he managed to struggle free and ran into his parents' home.

Said Mrs Khatun: "The men were trying to get in to the house and were punching the door while the man holding the machete was lashing out at us. They were shouting racial obscenities. Previously they were fighting among themselves with knives, they were drunk and out of their heads. We managed to close the door and the police came."

As the police arrived, some of the men ran back to a nearby house and some even complained that Mrs Khatun and her family had attacked them with knives. At this point Mrs Khan's husband Syed Bashir Uzz Aman, aged 74, returned home to find broken windows and police officers searching his house. His blood pressure rose and the ambulance was called.

He said: "The police were treating us like we were the criminals while the white men who broke our windows and beat my son up had left. The police took away my wife's kitchen knifes to make sure they had not been used to attack these white men. How can they even think that we will go out onto the streets with knives and fight with young men!"

The family say they had called the police a day earlier complaining of the same thugs but were told by police to contact their landlords, West Pennine Housing. They were told in turn by West Pennine to contact the police.

Said Mofojul: "Nobody wants to help us. We can' rely on the police because their attitude from the past has shown that they don't care what happens to us."

A police spokeswoman said officers had searched several homes with the occupiers permission as a result of the incident. She added that investigations into it were continuing.