Posted on 10/02/2006 1:03:08 PM PDT by 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."
There are thousands of people on here, so no telling what some of them might write. I've seen all sorts of stuff on here. - I've heard about the Marshall Plan, but it was mostly before my time so I don't think much about it. I was born in 1946. My Daddy was an infantryman in WWII, in N. Africa, Sicily, Italy & Germany, in the worst of it, for the duration, shell-shocked and wounded - so I know war and its scars. - Nothing bin Laden would like better than to see us at each others throats, but what he doesn't understand is that we are brothers and there for each other when push comes to shove. A lot more he does not understand about us.
These Islamic extremists are so caught up in getting their own selfish hides to heaven that they are missing it altogether.
Racism has the cachet of victimization; religion is backward nonsense except as it applies to race or ethnicity.
You need to remind the sobs that put up that billboard that if it had not been for America, the ones living in Britian that were not made into lampshades and soap for washing Goring's ass would be speaking German today.
How about Lend-Lease, the 8th Air Force and the Third Army?
No more than a clown was born with makeup on his face.
Don't encourage them.
Well stated.
That's the point. As for the Marshall plan and WWII, we were all in it for survival, and Brits fought just as hard as we did and for a lot longer. Not to mention the Russians.
The Brits owe us nothing, and even if they did, to continually bring it up is the crude and childish.
London is to England as what Seoul is to South Korea...
...a super-sized version of Berkeley, CA (or Ithaca, NY).
(Although, since Seoul makes up roughly 50% of the entire SKorean population, it is a reasonable assumption)
As a long time resident of London, I ask you respectfully to take that back.
What you actually mean is that you have met a very small section of the population of the capital and that it is convenient for you to generalise from that because their opinions have confirmed your own prejudices.
If you want to meet people outside London, has it occurred to you to go to a different part of the UK? There are many beautiful towns and cities across England if you want to be a tourist. Of course, if you are in London and the UK purely for business reasons this may not be possible.
If that is the case, you really need to cultivate an understanding of the concepts of irony and self-depreciation - in other words, get over it.
Gosh, that's original!
miss marmelstein went off-point here
I responded, explaining what the billboards were about here
mriss marmelstein responded by dismissing my explanation here Sorry, it doesn't wash.
From there it all went pear shaped.
Apparently though, there was no further trouble in Preston on Monday. You'll all be glad to hear.
Roosevelt drained the British treasury? Bullshit.
God, you are so thin-skinned.
Agreed. The Christian West is bloody well fed UP with Islam and anything/everything to do with it. The bill's come due.
Can you imagine a Brit in America encountering a billboard saying 'Has anything good come from Britain?' and bursting into tears? It just wouldn't happen. We don't take ourselves so seriously.
Actually, if you read my original post you will see that I wrote that I "teared up." Not quite sobbing in the back of the cab. And I wouldn't keep bragging about your ability to laugh at yourself. If you really had that ability, you and several others on this thread would have not reacted with the volcanic fury you are so readily expressing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.