芒洋の日々　

a) The events
The riots were triggered by broadcasting a rumour on the local radio station that a teenage black girl was raped by a group of Asian men. Although there was no real evidence, black people appeared to believe it due to their representation that Asian Muslims treating women badly. On 22nd October 2005, violence hit Lozells’ streets as both Black and Asian gangs took the occasion to fight each other. On one hand, Black rival gang groups were united to attack the Asian shops. On the other hand, a Muslim gang group and a Sikh one were combined to attack Black young men. It resulted in the deaths of two people.

b) The reactions of politicians
Relatively few politicians made a comment about the riot and no inquiries were carried out this time. The Labour Muslim MP for Perry Bar, Khalid Mahmood, denied the conflict between Asians and African Caribbeans and maintained that: “There are issues of social deprivation, but it affects all groups equally (the Guardian, November 1, 2005).” He regarded the event as a criminal act committed by the small number of people who were “predominantly from outside” and claimed “the majority of the community is still very close together”. On the national level, Geoff Hoon, the Leader of the Commons, cpmmented that: "violence can never be a legitimate way of expressing grievances", while praising the acts of the West Midlands Police (Birmingham Evening Mail, October 27, 2005). David Cameron, the Conservative leader, discussed the Lozells riots, when he visited Handsworth in January 2007. In his speech he rejected “a common interpretation” of the riots which claims “this issue is all about Muslims” and raised the problem of unemployment and poor education. However, he attacked mass immigration inflows, extremism and multiculturalism as one of the causes of the riots (Birmingham Post, January 29, 2007).

c) Newspaper Representations
As Black and Asian gangs fought each other, the causes of the riot were mentioned in relation to gang culture and inter-ethnic conflicts rather than social deprivation. An article in the Sun stated this sentiment clearly: “Lozells erupted because criminal gangs have been allowed to flourish” (October 25, 2005). It strongly claimed a link between these criminal acts and young black men, and appealed to the public atmosphere after 7.7, saying “all the terrorists who murdered and maimed us have been Muslim”.

Contrary to twenty years ago, the media showed more sympathy to Black Caribbeans, while blaming Asian Muslims as the major cause of the conflict. Most of the media reported that black residents were resented because their businesses included drug dealing as well as cultural and political influences that have been taken over by Asian newcomers (Sunday Mercury, October 30, 2005). While some writers mentioned black prejudice against Asians, most of them regarded disrespectful behaviour of Asians towards Black people as a serious problem (The Daily Telegraph, October 26, 2005).

Surprisingly, media accounts claimed that there existed cohesion in the community before Pakistanis fled into the area. For example, Torcuil Crichton wrote in the Sunday Herald (October 30, 2005) that “in the 1980s, first and second-generation West Indian immigrants and the residual white working-class communities lived side by side in Lozells”. Similarly, Gus John, who once worked in Birmingham for the Runnymede Trust, remembered the early 1970 in Handsworth-Lozells that ‘business in the community was conducted mainly by white English and African-Caribbeans, and there was a large measure of social cohesion’ (The Guardian, October 26, 2005).