2001 Oldham Riots
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The Oldham riots were a brief period of violent
riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...
ing which occurred in
Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
, a town in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England, in May 2001. They were ethnically-motivated riots and the worst riots in the United Kingdom since 1990 (the riots in 1990 were about the Poll Tax and were not ethnically motivated). The Oldham riots were the first of a series of major riots during summer 2001, which saw similar
ethnic conflict An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's position within so ...
s follow in
Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
,
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
and
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
. They followed a long period of ethnic tensions and attacks in Oldham, occurring particularly between groups of the local
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
and
South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
communities. The most violent rioting occurred in the Glodwick area of the town, a multi-ethnic district of Oldham and home to a large community of
British Pakistanis British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, Britons or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani ...
.


Riots

The racial riots took place throughout
Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
and a small part of neighbouring
Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. The ...
, peaking on Saturday, 26 May 2001, and continuing on Sunday 27, and Monday, 28 May 2001. They were particularly intensive in Glodwick, an area to the south-east of Oldham town centre. They were highly violent and led to the use of petrol bombs, bricks, bottles and other such projectiles by up to five-hundred Asian youths as they battled against lines of
riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...
. At least 20 people were injured in the riots, including fifteen officers, and 37 people were arrested."Reasons Behind The Ethnic Riots in Oldham"
Islam Online, 13 June 2001, URL accessed 19 June 2006
Other parts of Oldham such as
Coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...
and Westwood were also involved. Asians - including those of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian heritage - made up 11% of Oldham's population, but constituted around 2% of the workforce at the local council, the town's biggest employer at the time. The rate of
mixed race The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mul ...
marriage in the town was less than 1%. Most Oldham
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s were single race, and many secondaries were 99% white or 99% Asian. On Saturday 26 May, the Live and Let Live pub, which was occupied at the time, was pelted with bricks, stones and petrol bombs. Several cars were set ablaze including an occupied police van. Lines of riot police were drafted in to combat the spiralling violence. Several officers were injured, and 32 police vehicles were damaged, but despite the level of violence and
arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...
, there were no fatalities. On 28 May 2001, the headquarters of the local newspaper, the '' Oldham Evening Chronicle'', was attacked. A large group of Asian rioters threw a petrol bomb into the premises and smashed three plate-glass windows. Just weeks after the riots, the then Deputy-Mayor of Oldham, Riaz Ahmad, became a victim of arson when someone threw a petrol bomb at his house in
Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. The ...
, setting it ablaze. Mr. Ahmad, his wife and four children were all in the house sleeping at the time, but all escaped without any injuries. The disturbances received extensive coverage from local, national and international media, including the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and other television networks and several tabloids and broadsheets.


Causes

The exact causes of the Oldham riots are widely disputed, with blame being placed and denied by various groups. What is understood is that the riots stemmed from multiple causes and incidents, both historic and short-term.


Long-term causes

Oldham was once a thriving town, a spearhead of the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
and was said to be the cotton spinning capital of the world, producing at its peak some 13% of the entire world's cotton. However, economically, Oldham was very much dependent on this single industry, and following a depression in the British cotton industry due to increased foreign competition and the events of the two world wars, manufacture, affluence and employment opportunities steadily declined in the town during the first half of the 20th century. As such, Oldham became a relatively impoverished town, inhabited by people with non-transferable skills outside of mill work. In an attempt to keep the industry and the town alive, cotton did however continue to be spun to compete with foreign competition right up until 1989. Although cotton was produced in lesser quantities, it was under increasingly anti-social conditions (night-shifts and harder working conditions) and requiring manpower which was not as readily available as before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Because of this, after World War II ended, workers from the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...
were encouraged to migrate to Oldham, amongst other similarly industrialised English towns, to fill the shortfall of indigenous employees, and thus benefit from increased economic opportunity, albeit from tough unsociable employment regimes in a distinctly foreign land. These migrant groups, initially male Caribbeans and Pakistanis, but later Bangladeshi (then
East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...
i), Indian, Caribbean, and Pakistani families began to arrive in considerable numbers in the 1960s, settling throughout the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. However, due to the comparatively poor circumstances with which they arrived in Britain, these migrants settled in concentrated neighborhoods, inhabiting the poorest of Oldham's then crumbling Victorian residential areas - most of which have since been redeveloped. As a prosperous thriving centre of the industrial revolution, Oldham had always been a town attracting migrants (from wider-England, Scotland, Ireland, and following the world wars,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
). However, the South Asian communities which settled remained culturally very distinct from the local population, in dress, language, religion, customs and, pertinently, in
ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
/colour, much more so than previous migrant groups. These factors contributed heavily to the foundations of Oldham's concentrated and sizeable Asian communities, which make up around 12% of the Borough's population, with Glodwick and more recently Clarksfield becoming a strong Pakistani community, and Westwood and Coldhurst likewise becoming home to a large Bangladeshi community. These communities became very marginalised within a town of poor education and hostile working-class ethics. Derogatory racist language was often used to describe the migrants who had arrived, who in turn kept their mother-tongue language and stayed as a close-knit cultural community. Inter-ethnic relationships, marital, friendly or otherwise, were seen as highly undesirable and very much frowned upon by both communities for several reasons, including not only ethnicity but religion. Several assumptions rose to mythical status in the town during the forty-year period between the first Asian migration and the Oldham Riots. Many Asians believed that areas such as
Sholver Sholver is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. An elevated, residential area, it lies near the middle of the Oldham part of the valley of the River Beal, northeast of Oldham's commercial centre, nearly at the northeasternmost ex ...
, Abbeyhills, Limeside, and Fitton Hill were
no-go area A "no-go area" or "no-go zone" is a neighborhood or other geographic area where some or all outsiders are either physically prevented from entering or can enter at risk. The term includes exclusion zones, which are areas that are officially kept o ...
s for them in a similar way that the white community in Oldham feared attack should they be found in the vicinity of Glodwick, Clarkesfield and Westwood, and that the council was racist, holding back the socio-economic development of Asians. This was verified in the Ritchie report, where numerous instances of zones marked with whites-only graffiti were reported. The report notes, however, that no institutional decree to such an effect was issued. Many members of the white community believed that more council tax money was spent serving Asian needs, such as
mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...
building, in substitution for providing for white needs, although over the previous six years, the majority of regeneration grants had gone into white areas: Westwood and Glodwick received £16 million in 1995/96, whereas Hathershaw and Fitton Hill - predominantly white areas - received £53 million."The summer of rebellion: special report"
, Independent Race and Refugee News Network, 1 August 2001, URL accessed 19 June 2006
This myth was tagged as wholly untrue in The Ritchie Report. Some minority sects of the Asian community believed that the police were behind the instigation of the Oldham riots, and some in the white community believed that the
flag of England The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...
was being removed by councillors, in favour of celebrating Asian cultural identity. A review of the Oldham riots blamed deep-rooted segregation which authorities had failed to address for generations. Poverty and lack of opportunity was also blamed, with the Oldham wards of
Alexandra Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymology, Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; genitive, GEN , ; ...
, Werneth, Hollinwood and Coldhurst in the 5% most deprived in the country, in addition to a further three wards in the 10% most deprived wards overall."The Ritchie Report"
Oldhamir.org.uk, 11 December 2001, URL accessed 13 June 2006


Mid-term causes

In the year leading up to the riots, there were 572 reported ethnicity-related crimes in the Oldham area, and in 60% of these, white persons were recorded as being the victims.
Guardian Unlimited, 28 May 2001, URL accessed 13 June 2006
These figures alarmed both Asian and white communities, and led to the
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
announcing it would contest the forthcoming general election, with its leader
Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British far-right politician who was chairman of the British National Party (BNP) from 1999 to 2014, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2009 to 2014. Follow ...
to stand as a candidate for the constituency of Oldham West and Royton. The far-right National Front political party also announced its interest in the town, and the intent to provide its own candidates for election. According to a
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
investigation team, much of the violence seen in Oldham was caused by poverty, social disadvantage and a high percentage of young males in the Oldham area."War veteran in 'racist' attack"
BBC News, 24 April 2001, URL accessed 13 June 2006
The media, which had little interest in Oldham prior to the troubles, began a period of increased reporting from the area, with the local media such as the '' Oldham Evening Chronicle'', and the '' Oldham Advertiser'' placing race-related stories on front page spreads.
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
blamed the riots on the "bad and regressive motive of white extremists""Same Oldham story?"
, Spiked Online, 29 May 2001, URL accessed 13 June 2006
and condemned the actions of the National Front and the British National Party in the Oldham area as inflammatory to the violence.


Short term causes

In the days and weeks before the riots, several violent and racist disturbances occurred in Oldham, which are attributed to provoking the riots. *Glodwick, an area south-central to Oldham town had become increasingly ethnically polarised. The area which is predominantly home to people of Pakistani origin had been for many years a ''no-go'' area for local white people for fear of possible attacks, a problem highlighted by a ''Today'' report on BBC radio. Although this label was challenged by community leaders as a purely minority view, this negative reputation still held at least five years after the original disturbances. Similarly, areas of predominantly and polarised white inhabited areas had the same perception as ''no-go'' to members of the Asian community. This was increasing tensions, and had been covered on the BBC North West Tonight programme by social-affairs reporter Dave Guest. *On 21 April 2001, a mugging and attack upon 76-year-old white World War II veteran Walter Chamberlain by three Asian youths was amongst the first major provocations which led to the riots. Chamberlain was approached as he walked to his home after watching a local amateur rugby league match. He was mugged and badly beaten, receiving fractured bones in the face amongst other injuries. His battered face appeared on the front of the ''
Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'', and the story spread to all the major national newspapers. In the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'', his face appeared under the headline "Beaten for being white: OAP, 76, attacked in Asian no-go area". Media pundits began to speculate on the apparent transformation of young Asian males - from the stereotype of hard-working boys, who respected their parents, to the new stereotype of angry, violent thugs. An Asian male (a Mr. Fokrul Islam) was ultimately charged for the crime of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm on 1 October 2001, some time after the riots. Chamberlain and his family, in an attempt to try to calm tensions in the borough, stated at the time that the mugging was just that, and not at all racially motivated. "It was a violent assault on an elderly man", said Chamberlain's son Steven. "As a family we don't think it was a race issue at all." *Following a long period of ethnic-tensions, and the attack upon Chamberlain, the far-right National Front political party applied to the council on 26 April for permission to march and demonstrate in Oldham on 5 May. Permission was denied, with a three-month ban on public procession in Oldham put in place, aimed at keeping order and preventing a further increase in ethnic-tensions. *Several racist skirmishes occurred in the town, including visiting football supporters from
Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
, who deliberately walked through multi-racial areas of the town before and after the match. Attacks followed, initially from Stoke City fans, and then more serious retaliatory attacks and petrol bomb throwing from local male Bangladeshi groups. Following this, on 5 May 2001, there was a day of mounting tension and run-ins between racist and anti-racist groups in the town. Up to fifty National Front supporters, mainly from
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
and London arrived in the town, clashing with members of the Anti-Nazi League and local Asian groups. Five hundred police were deployed, and the events received extensive media coverage. *In the week before the Oldham riots, a number of racist incidents occurred at Breeze Hill School near Glodwick. Several white youths, some of whom were ex-pupils, approached the school, throwing stones and projectiles at the premises, and hurling racist abuse at the majority Asian pupils. Police were called for five consecutive days from 21 May 2001 to dissipate the disturbances, which were reported by the local press.


Immediate cause leading to riot

One largely shared and corroborated view of the events which led up to the riots on Saturday 26 May 2001, were the following, based upon eye-witness accounts, media interviews and police evidence: *At 8 p.m., a fight occurred between one Asian youth and one white youth near the Good Taste chip shop on the corner of Salford Street and Roundthorn Road in Glodwick. The fight, which was witnessed, and included racist language from both sides is said to have ended abruptly, but led to the hasty gathering of a gang of white youths assembled via mobile phone. *Following this earlier fight between the two youths, further violence erupted as a gang of white men attacked an Asian business and threw a projectile through a window of a house in the Glodwick area, where a heavily pregnant Asian woman was in residence. Violence spiralled from this group as they rampaged through Glodwick attacking a number of persons and properties. *Retaliatory violence soon followed, as large gangs of Asian men gathered and began to rally. Some of the earlier (but by then dissipating) group of white men were found and attacked. Further to this, a number of cars and commercial windows were also smashed in retaliation. *The (white-owned) Live and Let Live pub was targeted and pelted with bricks, stones, bottles, and then petrol bombs. Cars were driven to block the fire exits, in an attempt to stop the patrons from escaping the flames, whilst vehicles in the surrounding roads were ignited, and police were called. Police officers were pelted by groups of Asian males. A night of violence began, and riot police were quickly drafted in to the Glodwick area, rife with both Pakistani and Bangladeshi rioters. It is understood that both the Asian and white communities were furious with the recent events in the town. Asians were angry with media coverage and police handling of the various incidents, and this may have intensified the riot.


Ritchie Report

The Ritchie Report
was a major review both of the Oldham Riots and the inter-ethnic problems that had long existed in the town. It was commissioned by the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
, the
Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham. The borough had a population of in , making it the sixth-largest district by population in Greater Manch ...
and the local police authority. It was named after David Ritchie, Chairman of the Oldham Independent Review. The report, published on 11 December 2001, was a 102-page document, addressed to the people of Oldham and was the sum total of much evidence gathering, including the interviewing of some 915 people and over 200 group meetings with local residents and governmental bodies. The Ritchie Report largely blamed deep-rooted segregation, which authorities had failed to address for generations, as the cause of the Oldham Riots and its prior and subsequent inter-ethnic problems. It warned: "Segregation, albeit self-segregation, is an unacceptable basis for a harmonious community and it will lead to more serious problems if it is not tackled".


Sentencing

On 12 June 2003, 10 people were all jailed for nine months each after being convicted of their part in the rioting. They were; Darren Hoy (aged 27 and from Fitton Hill district of the town), his sister Sharon Hoy (aged 38 and from the Raper Street neighbourhood), their cousin Matthew Berry (aged 25 and from the Limedale district of the town), James Clift (aged 24 and from
Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. The ...
), Mark Priest (aged 32 and from
Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...
in
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
), Alan Daley (aged 38 and from
Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester and south-west of Oldham. The M60 motorway, M60 ring-road motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the United Kingdom C ...
), David Bourne (aged 35 and from Limeside), Steven Rhodes (aged 30 and from the Medway Road neighbourhood), Paul Brockway (aged 39 and from
Blackley Blackley is a suburban area of Manchester, in the county of Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is approximately north of Manchester city centre, on the River Irk. History The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Do ...
) and 22-year-old Failsworth man Stephen Walsh. A 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were also convicted of involvement in the riot but avoided prison sentences, instead receiving a supervision order and conditional discharge, respectively. Judge Jonathan Geake noted that none of the defendants were responsible for the rioting, and had directed the jury to clear the defendants of the charge of riot, before all 12 pleaded guilty to either affray or common assault.


The Cantle Report

The Cantle Report was published coincidentally with the Ritchie Report in 2001 and was produced by an Independent Review Team appointed by the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
. The Team considered all of the disturbances in northern English towns, and created the concept of 'parallel lives' to describe the deep-seated segregation in the areas reviewed. It was not specific to Oldham and made recommendations for national and local government. Subsequently, Ted Cantle led a team from the Institute of Community Cohesion (now Foundation) to review the progress made since 2001. This 64-page Review was published on 25 May 2006, the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Oldham riots. It was commissioned by Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council to independently review the town's progress in its efforts to achieve racial harmony and community cohesion. The report praised the council and town for its considerable progress and efforts, but said much more needed to be achieved, given Oldham's projected increase in ethnic diversity in the decades ahead. According to the report, the review teams were "struck by the extent to which divisions within and polarisation between Oldham's many communities continue to be a feature of social relations and the seeming reluctance of many sections of the community to embrace positive change". The report broadly had three messages: *"few cities, towns or districts in other parts of the country have done as much as Oldham in seeking to build community cohesion. In short, Oldham has every right to be proud of its record to date." *"Segregation and divisions between Oldham's communities is still deeply entrenched." *"If you want to change a community, the community must want to change." In interviews with both the ''Oldham Evening Chronicle'' and
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
, Cantle accused some community leaders of hindering progress because they were worried about losing their political influence. "We did find that a number of the communities, and particularly the community leaders were unwilling to get out of their comfort zones and that's a really big issue now"."Oldham divided five years after race riots"
Yahoo News, 25 May 2006, URL accessed 13 June 2006


Legacy and impact

The legacy of the riots is broad and still in motion, but has seen increased ethnic-relations and some community-amenity improvements in the town, including the creation of a new Oldham Cultural Quarter (which includes the state-of-the-art Gallery Oldham and Oldham Library), and a number of proposed improvements and investments for the community facilities of the area. The community facilities currently available in Oldham have been heavily criticised; however, as of 2016 a new ODEON cinema has been constructed in the town. Some of the bodies and reports which proposed new community and amenity improvements included, ''Oldham Beyond'' (April 2004), ''Forward Together'' (October 2004), and ''The Heart of Oldham'' (May 2004). Several men, mainly of Bangladeshi heritage were ultimately arrested and charged in connection to the riots. Immediately after the Oldham Riots, the British National Party received an increase in the share of votes in both local and general elections; however, they have not won a seat to represent any part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
or the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. In the 2006 local elections, the BNP's share of votes decreased markedly, which was highlighted in The Cantle Report during the same year.


See also

* 2001 Bradford riots *
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
* Harehills Riot * History of Oldham * List of riots *
Moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usually perpetuated by moral e ...
*
Ethnic violence An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's position within so ...
*
Race riot This is a list of ethnic riots by country, and includes riots based on Ethnic conflict, ethnic, Sectarian violence, sectarian, xenophobic, and Racial conflict, racial conflict. Some of these riots can also be classified as pogroms. Africa A ...
*
Riot control Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...
*
Social cohesion Group cohesiveness, also called group cohesion, social harmony or social cohesion, is the degree or strength of bonds linking members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001 Oldham Race Riots Oldham race riots Oldham race riots British Pakistani history Crime in Greater Manchester History of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Race riots in England 2000s in Greater Manchester May 2001 in the United Kingdom