British south Asian communities worry protests against asylum hotels could lead to outbursts of extreme violence
T
he shoppers and shopkeepers of White Abbey Road in Bradford well remember a time almost 25 years ago when the street was engulfed in flames after a protest march against the National Front turned violent. On east London’s Brick Lane, the British-Bangladeshi population remember the invisible lines they could not cross without being set upon by the far right.
For both communities, whose showdowns with racist groups came in different decades, the atmosphere in the UK today feels worryingly familiar, with far-right sentiment on the rise, stoked by politicians.
“It feels like it has cycled back around,” says Mohsin Shuja, 42, who works in a jewellery shop on White Abbey Road. As a teenager during the 2001 Bradford riots, he was involved in protests against the far right that descended into clashes with police.
