Keeping the peace

IN their long lifetime, Bradford's splendid Victorian streets have seen many strange and startling sights. Sadly, one need not go back too far to recall one of their worst moments, when racial tensions errupted in 2001, triggering a huge wave of violence.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Aug 2010, 21:27 BST
Updated 18th Aug 2010, 21:27 BST

The city has moved on since then, despite the heavy toll it has borne during the recession, but that sense of calm will be sorely tested if a planned English Defence League march, and a counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism, is allowed to go ahead.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has no alternative but to approve a blanket ban on marches on August 28, and so to prevent the EDL from parading through Bradford. City fathers and Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, may well fear a repeat of the scenes of nine years ago, when Bradford temporarily achieved notoriety in the eyes of the rest of the nation, and there is no justification for taking such a risk.

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It was only last October that the EDL, an alliance of football supporters and far Right activists, marched through Leeds. In the end, the city was swamped with police, meaning the event did not spill over into anarchy, but there were still nine arrests and a 345,000 policing bill to be borne by the taxpayer.

The cost of supervising a similar event in Bradford would surely be equal to this, or even higher, and it is not one that the over-stretched public purse should have to face. Ms May must keep the peace and back the ban.

Related topics:BradfordVictorianTheresa MayWest Yorkshire PoliceLeeds