A strange silence hung over Luton when I walked along George Street at 5pm this afternoon. Its been like that several times in recent months. Small groups of police were everywhere, and there were riot vans in good numbers. A helicopter hovering over Bury Park , the main Muslim area, broke that silence and with occasional police vans speeding in that direction, it was obviously the place I needed to be.
As I walked
it was obvious that few of the expected trouble makers had come to town today. If they did they would seem to
have decided their task was in vain and spent the day in the pubs.
Police were in even larger numbers along Telford Way, and the entrance to the New Bedford Road and small roads and alleys leading to Bury Park were blocked. Stopping for a moment to watch I asked a bystander what was going on. "I heard its a BNP march. I am from Tunbridge Wells, I am just in Luton for the day." Well that was interesting because I grew up near Tunbridge Wells, and its rather white compared with the town I now love to call home! What did he think of Luton? He didn't seem to want to comment. "What is it like to live in Luton?" Mr Tunbridge Wells wanted to know. "Well its certainly different from Tunbridge Wells, but I wouldn't be anywhere else!" was my measured but enthusiastic and I think rather unexpected reply - as across the road police donned their riot helmets and shields and headed into Bury Park. Watch out for a letter in the press from the proverbial "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" about that strange conversation.
I moved on to the pedestrian bridge that leads to Bury park. The road ahead was completely closed. Out of sight in the photo below are another ten or so vans.
Police officers blocked off the pedestrian access, and up the street ahead I could see several more lines of police. However it was clear whatever had happened was nearly done, and after some 20 minutes we were let through to the next line. Over the next ten minutes the remaining lines were relaxed and Bury Park was open again. What had happened?
The atmosphere was very tense as I made my way up to Nadeem Plaza, the new gathering place in Bury Park, and made my way to one of the mosques and shops where I knew people. Gradually the story was pieced together. Muslim youth had attacked police in response to a rumour that had spread that the BNP and Combat 18 were in town. More gathered. One hundred, maybe two hundred. They set off towards the town centre. The police stopped them, and then things turned nasty. Fireworks, brick and eggs were thrown. Eventually an iman, an elder, came and was able to calm things down.
So what happened? First - a no-show by the EDL or whoever we will call them, leaving the very large police presence rather like a fish out of water. To be honest we were surprised at the size of the police mobilisation this time around. The August 30th date, which was fixed after the last May 24th demo and riot ( This is what happened in Luton yesterday) but was apparently cancelled about three weeks ago, in favour of a demo on September 19th, the day of a Luton Town home game. I might go into that another time, but since that was announced there has been little indication of any likely activity on August 30th. To confuse things even more, a few days ago the Sept 19th date was apparently cancelled. Are the EDL playing cat and mouse on the internet?
So if the EDL were not there what happened. I guess it went something like this. Lots of police, atmosphere of fear, rumours spread. I asked several people (white and Asian) what was going on. The response was invariably, "the BNP are in town". It doesn't take much for a general response like that to take on more substance. And once the police get in the way, they become the enemy - protecting the invisible BNP. (Of course we have heard exactly the same story from the right about the police protecting the Muslims.) And both are right!
Did we need so many police. Well no, but we might have done. Its a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Were they heavy handed. I don't know, I didn't see the action, but i doubt it.
And the big question - what now? Undoubtedly more media. As I write its been in the Telegraph which I blogged on here (Luton: Riot police break up mob) earlier this evening, and it just came out in the Times (Luton police quell disturbance by Asian youths) More analysis. And you can bet the EDL will be wanting more action here.
This is one of a series of posts focusing on the issues of Islamophobia currently being worked out in Luton and the UK. For the full list of posts see Seeking Peace in Luton - and Multicultural UK
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