Bradford Telegraph & Argus, Thursday 15 January 2004:
Parties welcome ban on city marches
by Olwen Vasey
Home Secretary David Blunkett has imposed a month-long ban on all marches in the Bradford district.
The decision follows an application from the White Nationalist Party which had asked the Council for permission to hold a march and rally in Bradford on Saturday.
The ban also includes gatherings in Centenary Square and within a five-mile radius of the city centre.
The Home Secretary agreed to the request by Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Police under the 1986 Public Order Act because of the danger of public disorder in the city if it took place.
Today Mr Blunkett's action was welcomed by members of all the Council's political groups as the right decision. Deputy Council leader Councillor Simon Cooke said: "While we don't like to prevent legitimate political activities, we think that in the interests of public order and the district's communities the Home Secretary has made the right decision."
And Labour group leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said: "I am extremely pleased that the Home Secretary has done this. These people have no place in Bradford or in public life."
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that it had requested the order because of the threat of trouble. A Home Office spokesman said a balance had to be struck between protecting the rights of those carrying out their lawful business and the rights of demonstrators.
Phillip Robinson, interim chief executive of Bradford Council, said: "The orders have been made following an application from the White Nationalist Party for a march and rally in the district on January 17. This is a balanced response to the real threat of public disorder."
Pete Wilson, press officer for the White Nationalists, said he thought the decision set a disturbing precedent.
The Guardian, Friday January 16, 2004:
Blunkett bans Bradford White Nationalist march
The
home secretary, David Blunkett, has imposed a month-long ban on marches
in Bradford in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2001 riots in the city.
Yesterday's
move came after a request from Bradford city council and West Yorkshire
police to ban a march by the right wing group the White Nationalist party.
The group had planned to hold a march and rally in the city centre tomorrow, but the council feared the rally would prompt similar disturbances to those that took place in July 2001 when the National Front gathered in the city's Centenary Square.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: "There is, of course, a balance to be struck between protecting the rights of those undertaking lawful activities and the rights of the demonstrators."
Explaining the ban he added: "The chief officer of police can impose conditions on a procession if he reasonably believes that the procession may result in serious public disorder.
"He may also seek the consent of the home secretary to ban a march if he reasonably believes that the imposition of conditions will not be sufficient to prevent the march resulting in serious public disorder."
Phillip Robinson, interim chief executive of the council, welcomed the move.
He said: "This is a balanced response to the real threat of public disorder that could occur if a march and rally of this type were to take place."
A
spokesman for the White Nationalists told the Bradford Telegraph and Argus
that the ban set a disturbing precedent.
Regeneration and Renewal magazine, January 22 2004:
City leaders praise marches ban
All marches have been banned in Bradford for the next month because of fears of a repeat of the 2001 riots.
The ban was imposed by home secretary David Blunkett after Bradford City Council and West Yorkshire. Police expressed concerns about a planned march by the right-wing Nationalist Party through the city centre last Saturday. The party said the march was intended to highlight “the never-ending flood of bogus asylum seekers into Britain”.
The ban was welcomed by MP for Keighley, Ann Cryer, and the city council’s interim chief executive Phillip Robinson.
Robinson said the ban was a “balanced response to the real threat of public disorder that could occur if a march and rally of this type were to take place”.
Millions of pounds of damage were caused, and hundreds of people were injured, during rioting in Bradford in July 2001. The disturbances broke out after National Front supporters gathered in a pub in the city’s Centenary Square.
Faith leaders in the city led the call for the ban. Religious leaders from across the spectrum, led by the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David James, wrote to the home secretary in December demanding the march be banned.
The Reverend Paul Hackwood, chair of Bradford’s Peaceworks multicultural forum, which is partly funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, said if the march had gone ahead it could have destroyed a lot of the recent good work in rebuilding community relations. “Things have been a lot calmer than they have been for years,” he said. “Banning the march shows that Bradford is not the sort of community that wants to be divided.”
Ann Cryer, whose constituency covers part of Bradford, said Blunkett would have been failing in his duty if he had failed to ban the march and it had led to a replay of the events in 2001.
Although community relations have improved since the riots, closer long-term integration, particularly in schools, is the only answer to tackling a lingering atmosphere of distrust between white and Asian communities, she said. At present, members of the two communities often only meet at work and integration is made more difficult because 50 per cent of Bradford’s Asian population do not speak English, Cryer added.
