- The Observer, Sunday July 1 2001
'I have a sword ready at home and if some dumb bastard comes running towards me I will use it,' said Iqbal, 24.
Such hardened attitudes among the city's Asian youth are one reason why many look with dread towards next weekend when white supremacists have threatened to gather in the city, aiming to spark off a race riot that could dwarf those seen in Oldham and Burnley.
Though the NF will almost certainly be refused permission to march in Bradford on Saturday, its members are unlikely to stay at home. It was banned from marching in Oldham but that did not prevent it rallying and triggering Britain's worst racial violence for two decades.
The Observer has learnt that the NF and the violent extremist group Combat 18 plan to rally in Bradford on Saturday - ban or no ban. They aim to follow their usual tactics, gathering in the city centre, drawing off police resources, while small groups carry out attacks on Asian estates in the hope of provoking retaliation. Links have been formed with football hooligans eager for trouble.
Such tactics are hard for the police to counter. 'There is a huge potential for disorder,' said a police source in the city.
The news comes as tensions were heightened further yesterday after the firebombing of an Asian house in the Lancashire town of Accrington. No one was injured in the attack on the family of seven, who were sleeping upstairs at the time. Police said the attack was racially motivated. A greengrocers shop in Burnley was also set alight.
There is also concern about the formation of a new racist group, in direct response to the recent riots, called the Order of White Knights. It is believed to be made up of a handful of hardened Combat 18 extremists. Members can join only if they have a long record of activity on the Far Right and have carried out racist attacks, making police infiltration difficult.
News of the NF intentions on Saturday has already inflamed passions among the city's Asian community, which makes up about 20 per cent of Bradford's population of almost half a million. 'Nobody's going anywhere that day, if the NF come here on Saturday they will be dead, that is as simple as that,' said Iqbal. 'Innocent white people are bound to get attacked as well. I am not justifying it, it just happens.'
Youth leaders say some Asians have stored up petrol bombs in derelict houses around Bradford. Knives and other weapons have also been collected. Members of the city's drug gangs are also expected to be involved in violence using their arsenal of firearms. 'If there's a big mob, it won't be just bricks, there will be shooters around,' said one young Asian.
Police are preparing for a possible 'worst case scenario' and have contingency plans to try to stop the NF from gathering. Members will be followed and police infiltrators are passing back information on possible meeting points. But the fear of widespread unrest is still great. 'The NF are sparking stuff left, right and centre, and young Asians are responding,' said Kamlesh Patel, an expert on ethnicity at the University of Central Lancashire. 'It feels like it is going to escalate.'
Across a string of northern English towns Asians and whites alike are all wondering where next the riots could break out. Nick Griffin, leader of the Far Right British National Party, has no doubts there will be more trouble. Halifax, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Accrington, Keighley and Rochdale were just a few of the vulnerable communities, he said. 'There is, I am sure, a lot more to come. It is remarkable no one has been killed yet,' he said.
Griffin gave his chilling warning as police in Accrington, just six miles from Burnley, investigated a spate of petrol bomb attacks in the town. On Thursday night, fire-bombs were hurled at a Roman Catholic school and a DIY store.
Most of the troubled northern towns have several things in common. All are relatively poor, with a large pool of disenchanted white working class youths vulnerable to racist scaremongering. All also have significant Asian populations, usually Pakistani, that are equally deprived but have grown rapidly in recent years.
Another phenomenon driving the riots is the emergence of a generational gap between younger Asians and their community elders. They were born here and are ready to defend their estates. Burnley taxi-driver Mohammad Aris said: 'Gone are the days when people could call me a Paki. I am proud to be a Paki. I used to cross the road, but we are not going to do that now. We are going to fight.'
After three nights of riots last week Burnley is still in shock. But the situation had been brewing for years. The actions of Far Right extremists and the 4,000-strong vote for the BNP at the election were just the spark that lit the fire. 'This has not come about overnight,' said Rafiq Malik, Burnley's deputy mayor.
Oldham, too, is still tense. Metal fences have been erected in one key area to keep the two communities apart. That has angered some. 'Segregation is a recipe for hatred. It is a recipe for problems,' said Judith Swift of Oldham United Against Racism. But the fence is unlikely to come down, making substantive the BNP demand for Belfast-style peace lines in the town.
So far Griffin and the BNP have been the only winners. From being an obscure leader of a racist fringe party, Griffin, a Cambridge-educated lawyer, has now been profiled in national newspapers and interviewed on Newsnight .
David Baker, an expert on the Far Right at the University of Warwick, said: 'In the postwar period he is probably now the most intelligent and well-prepared leader the Far Right has seen. Certainly so in the last three decades.'
But behind the suits and media savvy, the BNP hides hardened racist criminals in its ranks. The BNP's head of group development, Tony Lecomber, is known as 'The Bomber' after an explosives conviction. He has also served time for his part in attacking a Jewish teacher on the London Underground. The head of the BNP's American branch, vital for fundraising, is Mark Cotterill, a former activist for loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.
The BNP is hoping to capitalise on 2001's summer of violence to win council seats next May. More violence will only help its cause.
Last week Asian and white youths in Halifax held a mixed-race rave to ease tension. The event passed without incident. But the people of Halifax and other towns might yet find dancing will not be enough.
