Browse Sections

• Education
• Business
• Blog
• Special reports

'Learn English' camp rapped over 'slant' in riot report

1/ 7/2002

THE official report into Oldham's race riots has been attacked for its uncritical attitude towards the police and its claim that the inability of some Asians to speak English is a problem.

A document drawn by 10 community groups claims the Ritchie report into last May's riots failed to examine the way police "played into the hands of" white racist extremist in the weeks before the street violence.

The document claims the way the beating of a white pensioner Walter Chamberlain by an Asian gang was handled by the police and media and the publication of race statistic claiming the majority of violent attack in the town were Asian on white' was bound to provoke clashes.

The document, issued by Oldham Law Centre, says: "The handling of the publicity around the Walter Chamberlain incident and in particular the offering of a reward for information leading to a prosecution, is considered to have been at the very least misguided and inflammatory. Similarly, the comments Chief Inspector Hewitt, in commenting on statistics relating to reported racial incidents, are considered to have played directly into the hands of the far right. Also at the same time and throughout the disturbances there was inadequate communication and consultation between the Police and the communities."

It says there should be an inquiry into the role of policing before and during the riots and calls for the deployment of undercover police officers to riot out racists in the force. The report says a failure to speak English on the part of some Asians was irrelevant to the riots and is not the cause of educational underachievement of Asian children in Oldham.

The document adds: "It was noted that there were many groups whose first language is not English, which do not suffer from under achievement, such circumstances do not automatically lead to minority under achievement. The Ritchie Review makes a sweeping statement regarding language, which was thought to be unfair and implicitly focuses on the use of a different language by parents as a cultural deficit."

Criticism of the 'speak English' call has also been voiced by one of the panel who produced the Ritchie report. Panel member Waqar Azmi said he was critical of the way the Government has skewered the report to support its campaign to get Asian to speak English, swear oaths of allegiance to Britain and attacked forced marriages.

He said: "Speaking English was not an issue in the Oldham riots. The Asian youngster who were rioting are Oldhamers, born there and speaking English every bit as good as white kids. And what have oaths of allegiance or forced marriages got to do with the riots. The Ritchie report was just used as a means of getting these statements and polices out," he said.