'War' on the streets

A MAJOR police alert was sparked after up to 40 Hungarian andPakistani yobs brandishing machetes and knives clashed inRavensthor.

Tensions boiled over in the multi-racial community on Tuesday nightamid claims that an Asian girl was "touched" by the Hungarians.The rival gangs clashed in Spen Valley Road and one resident said:"The Hungarians just decided to go to war."A 36-year-old man from Ravensthorpe and a 39-year-old fromHuddersfield suffered slight head injuries and a number of weaponswere recovered by police.

Police described the disturbance as "an isolated incident" but patrolshave been stepped up to reassure local people.
Tuesday’s disturbances mirrored what happened last summer when Iraqisand Pakistani youths clashed in Ravensthorpe and Savile Town.

Locals said the trouble then was caused by Asian girls being pesteredfor sex by the Iraqi Kurds. During a week of tensions, riot policewere called to deal with running battles between rival gangs armedwith baseball bats and other weapons.
One man, a Kurd, was badly beaten and suffered head injuries.

This week’s disturbance has led to fears that violence may escalateagain and Coun Khizar Iqbal, in charge of community safety at KirkleesCouncil, said: "This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated and Iwill be talking to the police to make sure there is no repeat of whathappened last year."
Coun Iqbal (Con, Dewsbury South) said that the make-up of theRavensthorpe community may need to be looked at."We have different groups of people coming into Ravensthorpe and thedispersal scheme is run by national government, not local councils.

"This is a sensitive issue but we often don’t know who is coming inand from where but it can disrupt settled communities. However wecannot tolerate this kind of aggravation."
Businessman Vinny Burman, who runs an off-licence shop on the cornerof Spen Valley Road, described what happened on Tuesday and said:"Some Asian men took offence at what had happened to the girl andtrouble erupted. It went pear-shaped and got hostile.

"A lot of residents were scared but we have had this before involvingIraqis and Kurds. It goes on all the time. There is a lot of conflictand this was not as bad as it could have been but then there was aheavy police presence."Mr Burman said grown Hungarian men were chasing young Asians withmachetes and knives. "That’s why it was so bad," he said. "It keptgoing quiet and flaring up again. It is at night when it is worst."People have been coming into the shop asking whether they are safe.They don’t know how to take this. They expect the worst."

Throughout Tuesday evening police mounted high visibility patrols.
Chief Insp Jon Carter, Dewsbury’s police commander, said: "We areworking closely with the community in Ravensthorpe to find out justwhat happened.

"Clearly, when we get reports of large groups of people we takepositive action as this can cause fear and intimidation for members ofthe community.