Police were out in force again on the streets of Bradford last night after the worst race riots of the summer found nearly a thousand officers almost completely overwhelmed.
Reinforcements from neighbouring areas were summoned as police fought an eight-hour overnight battle for control of the Bradford streets in riots triggered by an Anti Nazi League demonstration against the presence of the National Front on Saturday afternoon.
In some of the worst scenes yet witnessed in what ministers and police chiefs fear could prove a long hot summer, gangs of Asian and white youths showered officers with bricks, petrol bombs and fireworks, and attacked them with baseball bats and hammers.
Manningham Labour Club and a BMW garage were torched during the night-long disturbances which left 120 police officers injured and two people stabbed, and led to 36 arrests. The intensity of the violence was such that one television bulletin on Saturday evening warned viewers the report contained scenes they might find upsetting.
As the acrid smell of smoke hung over yesterday morning's clear-up, police chiefs pledged to track down those involved in the riots, which Mr Mohammed Amran of the Commission for Racial Equality said had "destroyed Bradford." The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, said police powers might have to be increased to deal with a rising tide of street disorder. Mr Blunkett said he was not keen to "up-the-ante" but suggested the traditional cautious approach of British police meant outbreaks of violence could prove more prolonged than in countries where police used water cannon and other hardline tactics.
Mr Blunkett said it was "ridiculous" for people to blame police attitudes toward the Asian community for the disturbances and denied police in Bradford were "institutionally racist."
Commending the police for their "bravery and determination in face of enormous provocation", Mr Blunkett said: "I am not actually keen on upping the ante. I am very keen on the way in which our police force operates as far as possible at the lowest level to maintain order." However, he continued: "But I am keen to examine any suggestions that are put forward in circumstances where people believe they can go on the streets and threaten others, including the police, and believe they can get away with it."
Mr Blunkett said the violence was "inexcusable", condemned those responsible for damaging their own communities, and insisted the local community could not blame outsiders for the riots. "There is no doubt the initial confrontation was caused by those who intervened from outside," he told Sky News: "But it is also clear that what took place in the Manningham district was sheer mindless violence, and people acting in a totally anti-social and thuggish fashion, rather than some inherent cause through disadvantage that we need to address."
Assistant Chief Constable Mr Greg Wilkinson, of West Yorkshire Police, told a news conference yesterday that of the 36 arrested - 13 whites and 23 Asians - all but two were from the Bradford area.