UK : Hundreds clash in street battle

Lancashire Evening Post ^ | 10/02/2006

[Republicain]

A teenager was stabbed when hundreds of people became involved in a battle on the streets of Preston. Trouble centred on the Jamea Masjid mosque in Clarendon Street, Avenham, for more than four hours last night (Sunday) and led to a massive policing operation.

Preston's police chief said the problems were triggered by local youths throwing stones at cars belonging to people attending the mosque.

This sparked a response from around 200 people inside the mosque who came out to defend those under attack.

It resulted in one 16-year-old Asian youth being stabbed in the arm, but ambulance crews were turned back as the police felt it was too dangerous for them to enter the scene.

Fighting continued into the early hours and led to police requiring back-up from officers as far away as Lancaster and Burnley.

Chief Supt Mike Barton, divisional commander for the area, said more than 100 officers were deployed and he was treating the incident as race-related.

He said: "Some people I spoke to at the mosque insisted it wasn't racial but I think some people at the mosque believe it was.

"Until we actually find the offenders and speak to them, and because some people believe it to be racial, then that's how we'll treat it."

Insp Simon Hayes, force incident manager for Lancashire Police, described the incident as "community tension" with youths on the streets in a "confrontational mood".

He said: "As a result of that, there was a high-level policing operation to reassure the public and disperse these groups.

"There was no major disorder or serious incident."

Ilyas Desail, of the Jamea mosque on Clarendon Street, said: "It is not a mosque issue, it is a community issue.

"It is the month of Ramadan and that is the only reason the mosque has been brought into this.

"We are all upset by this, everyone is upset. No one is going to be happy with the tarnishing of such great efforts we have made in Preston in the past 40 years."

A mother-of-three, 33, from Clarendon Street, said: "It's getting ridiculous and for the past two nights there's been fighting."

[MadIvan]

I should have known you'd join in. Let's having a rousing old Brit bash, shall we!

Bring all your friends. Go on, say again, how bloody awful we all British are.

I have some bad news for you, however - the two countries that are able to stand with you on a consistent basis are Britain and America. In Afghanistan in particular, the toll has been bloody.

But that never occurs to you. You just want to sit on your pompous arrogant arse and look down on the "little people" in Britain and say "God Bless America and every other country sucks!"

An America without allies may be the masturbatory fantasy that keeps you warm at night, but it's not in the interests of your country. Anyone with half a brain will realise this and tell you where you can shove your idiocy.

Ivan

[MadIvan]

Given that Phillips is a pretty fierce critic of anti-semitism I think you might want to reconsider the comparison to Pat Buchanan.

Sophistry. She's part of the same "All's Hell in a Handbasket" school as Buchanan, which was the point.

Ivan

[protest1]

Don't blame miss marmelstein it was madivan, he went off his trolly and would not let the matter rest.

[familyop]

"...I just returned from London. On the way to the airport, there were at least three huge billboards on the highway (M4?) that read, "Has anything good ever come from America?". There was no credit on the billboard. I came very close to tears although the cab driver didn't notice.

I guess Great Britain has chosen sides on the war with Fascism."

It's true that we don't have billboards like that in the USA. BTW, has anyone in England answered truthfully to that in this thread so far?

Here's some more factual information.

...a YouGov poll of British people:


YOUGOV / DAILY TELEGRAPH RESULTS
Sample: 1,633; fieldwork: July 24-26, 2006

As you probably know, the recent violence followed the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers, one in Gaza and two in southern Lebanon. Which of the following statements comes closer to your own view?
Israel has the right to defend itself and the Israeli attacks in Gaza and the Lebanon have been an appropriate and proportionate response to the kidnappings	17
Israel has the right to defend itself but the Israeli attacks in Gaza and the Lebanon have been an inappropriate and disproportionate response	63
Neither/Don't Know	20
Some people say the Israelis have brought the present violence on themselves by refusing to withdraw behind their original borders and by taking over Palestinian land in the West Bank. Do you think the Israelis have, to any extent, brought the present violence on themselves?
Yes, there would be fewer attacks and a real chance for peace if Israel withdrew behind its original borders	40
No, the opponents of Israel will always attack Israel and try to destroy it, no matter where its borders are	35
Don't know	25
How would you rate the American administration's performance in the current crisis?
Excellent	1
Good	4
Fair	18
Poor	32
Very Poor	27
Don't Know	18
Which of the following statements comes closer to your own view?
Tony Blair in the current crisis gives the impression of making up his own mind and taking his own line	15
Tony Blair in the current crisis gives the impression of siding with the Americans, whatever the Americans say	64
Don't know	21

...and an earlier survey.

ICM (Poll of British people)

ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 20-21st April, 2002. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
. . .
"Q3. In the dispute in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, from what you have seen and heard about the conflict which of the two do you sympathise with more, Israel or the Palestinians?"

Israel           14%
Palestine      28%
Both            14%
Neither         23%
Don't know   20%

[ARE SOLE]

Just so you know Ivan, I'm with you on this. I don't give a damn that not everyone in Britain see's things exactly as I do. They are our ally, again, and I for one appreciate that fact.

Half of the US disagrees with me, sheesh!

[5050 no line]

Yup.

[MadIvan]

Don't blame miss marmelstein it was madivan, he went off his trolly and would not let the matter rest.

I hate to point this out, but miss marmelstein decided to cry at a billboard and be thoroughly ridiculous about it. I was happy to let it drop if she was going to not be silly about it.

Regards, Ivan

[EricT.]

The sad thing is that if they were attacked in a major way we would come to their aid again, in spite of their hate.

We would show up in unified force, ASAP. In spite of a few vocal libtard a$$hats, the UK has been at the top of our short list of reliable friends for a long time.

(That's why we can make bad teeth jokes about them.)

[vrwcagent0498]

No, you belittled her reaction to it. That's what it sounded like to me.

Unless you live in Britain, how is one to know that was an advert for a TV program?

[miss marmelstein]

Your post mad me feel very sad...almost to the point of crying again, lol!

Seriously, I too, have often thought of not returning to Great Britain but if you look over this thread you will see several Brits coming to the defense of Americans. Maybe they are just the "silent majority." So don't give up on England.

P.S.: My favorite story is the guide to Oxford years ago who introduced herself to my American tourist party with "Oh, I hate taking Americans around. You're so childish!"

[MadIvan]

And this proves the British are anti-American how?

The poll can be read a number of ways - the vast majority says Israel has a right to defend itself. The vast majority doesn't sympathise with the Palestinians. While a majority doesn't think Bush is handling it well...well close to a majority thought so in your own elections in 2004.

Nice try at sliming us. You'll have to do better.

Ivan

[vbmoneyspender]

She sounds like an anti-Buchanan to me.

Phillips defines herself as a progressive and a defender of liberal democracy[1]. Phillips began her career on the liberal left with the Guardian newspaper, and her gradual drift to the right of the political spectrum has been mirrored by her journalistic career; she now writes for the conservative Daily Mail. She has used her Daily Mail columns and blog to criticise, among other issues, progressive teaching methods[2], Muslim extremism[3] and anti-semitism.

A turning point in her political journey appears to have been the 1996 success of her book All Must Have Prizes (taken from the description of the caucus-race in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland); this criticised the perceived egalitarian and non-competitive ethos in British education as leading to an alleged catastrophic fall in standards.

[vrwcagent0498]

We have a love-hate relationship, like a sibling rivalry, I think.

One would come to the defense of the other if an outsider attacked one of them.

;)

[hardworking]

Thank you, but my heart is still breaking over that billboard.

Maybe you'll like this story: Years ago I made frequent business trips to London. One day the cabbie was going off about how the U.S. had race riots. He smugly informed me that they 'didn't have that problem and everyone gets along'. I asked him how many black cabbies there were and he acted surprised. I asked him if he was willing to set aside 10% of the cabbie jobs for blacks. He seemed surprised again. I told him, politely but firmly, that the reason they 'all get along' is because 'they' were all white and when and if they ever let people in from all over the world then he might experience a new situation. I'll never forget the smug look on that bast***d's face and I hope he's wiping the floor for some foreigner now. Made me feel good. They're just jealous because they are now trying to figure out how to handle things that we've been handling for two hundred years.

[MadIvan]

Unless you live in Britain, how is one to know that was an advert for a TV program?

Let's turn this on its head for a minute. If the billboard had said "the Islamic world" instead of "America", and it was for a season of films say out of Jordan and Egypt, you'd dismiss the hue and cry from the Muslim community as being an unjustified whinge on their part.

Why is it that you have to be just as sensitive as Muslims about this series of ads, as they are, say about Pope Benedict's remarks?

Regards, Ivan

[Inge_CAV]

"Has anything good ever come from America?"

"I guess we can start with dentistry and work our way up."

Or down, as the case may be.....

[protest1]

I knew nothing about this, despite living in the UK and watching the news. I only found out about it here on FR. Had you heard of this disturbance before this or did you do a search of the BBC only after hearing about it on FR?

[familyop]

"I have some bad news for you, however - the two countries that are able to stand with you on a consistent basis are Britain and America. In Afghanistan in particular, the toll has been bloody."

...obfuscating again? And yes, I keep up with the news.

British troops in secret truce with the Taliban
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1712333/posts

[stpickrell]

I wonder how many French hearts break if they read this forum.

[MadIvan]

...obfuscating again? And yes, I keep up with the news.

British Casualties in Afghanistan

British Casualties in Iraq

But hey, if your fellow Americans don't want our help, fine. Then your masturbatory dream of America alone can come true.

Ivan