Former Oldham Mayor Reflects On The Riots
Riaz Ahmad (picture: GPSJ News)
Former Mayor of Oldham Riaz Ahmad has been recalling the Oldham riots, which took place ten years ago.
Mr Ahmad, who was then the Deputy Mayor of the borough, and infamously had his Chadderton home firebombed several weeks after the violence, used an interview to say he’s “confident” there won’t be a repeat of the riots during his lifetime.
He told Stuart Littleford of GPSJ News: “You can never say never, but I think in Oldham we’ve learned our lessons. Everybody has taken on the challenge that we want to work together and we want to move forward.”
Mr Ahmad also said that integration between the different ethnic communities in Oldham borough had happened “slowly” over the past decade.
He commented: “It’s not happening at a pace that we would have liked. It is a long-term project, but I think it’s not got any worse than it was ten years ago. It’s slightly better, but there’s still a long, long way to go.”
The riots broke out in Oldham and Chadderton on 26 May 2001, and continued for a further two days. In the fiercest clashes, hundreds of Asian men and youths battled riot police in Glodwick.
The Oldham riots were part of a series of disturbances across the north of England that summer, with violence also taking place in Leeds, Bradford and Burnley. Mr Ahmad went on to become the first Asian Mayor of Oldham in 2002.
Commenting on the police, Mr Ahmad said the force has “significantly” changed the way it operates in Oldham since the riots. He said: “They are now in touch with the youngsters, they are in touch with the local councillors and community leaders. They have contacts with every mosque, every temple, every church. The police have made huge changes.”
You can hear the interview in full by clicking on the box below. The audio and picture have been supplied to Saddleworth News by Stuart Littleford of GPSJ News.
The Ritchie Report, commissioned after the riots and which Mr Ahmad mentions in the interview, can be read here.
The best online summary of the riots and the aftermath is on Wikipedia here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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