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Far right ruled out in mass-brawl inquiry
Reporter: Lewis Jones
Date online: 02 February 2012
OLDHAM Police chief Tim Forber has spoken out in a bid to quash rumours surrounding racial tension in Chadderton on Saturday.
The head of Oldham police has ruled out involvement of far-right groups in the clash between two groups in Block Lane.
He said: “We have been made aware of rumours in the local area that the gathering at the pub was connected with the English Defence League.
“Our investigations so far emphatically confirm that was not the case.”
Piles of glass yesterday surrounded the Hare and Hounds pub, outside which an altercation between drinkers and a group of passing Asian men spiralled out of control.
A 21st birthday party was being held in the pub on Saturday evening, with a group of partygoers leaving the pub to smoke outside.
Verbal abuse was exchanged between the smokers and a group of Asian males in a passing car shortly before midnight.
It quickly erupted into a brawl involving around 50 people, with reports of some of those involved carrying baseball bats.
Police attended the scene to quell the trouble, while residents came out on to the street as the violence increased and cars were attacked and smashed.
One eye-witness said: “I saw the car stop and someone get out, that sparked it and before long there were so many people out in the streets, making phone calls and more people arriving.
“Both groups were getting really angry and were continuing to wind the others up.
“There were people with baseball bats and sticks, people were throwing stones and smashing the pub windows as well as attacking cars.
“Local residents were just in shock, it’s never happened like this before.
“This is not the sort of thing you want on your doorstep, it escalated so quickly and spilled out across the road.”
A full-scale investigation has now been launched into the violence.
Two people were arrested immediately after the incident. One has since been released with no further actions and one has been bailed to return to the police station at a later date.
Two people reported being assaulted on the night, although no one was seriously injured.
Chief Supt Forber said: “The verbal altercation has escalated very quickly into a serious incident.
“We are undertaking a thorough investigation into what happened and I appeal for anyone who witnessed the disorder or has any information about who might be involved to contact Oldham CID.
“Extra patrols will be in the area to reassure local residents.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 0161-856 8965.
Comments
So one would assume that the party goers did not attend said party with baseball bats so the assumption would be that the gangs who arrived by the car loads were indeed the ones weilding said bats and breaking windows but only 2 arrests??? mmm.
Ok so the truth is a mass brawl between 2 diferent communities. Thanks Liebour for this as it is getting worse as time moves forward
It does not matter who started it or why . What matters is that one community over-reacted again and this needs to be addressed
Two boys were robbed and beaten up by a gang of 15 teenagers. The victims aged 15 and 17 were attacked in Oldham. The boys are white and all of the gang were Asian
The Police have unsuprisingly claimed it wasn't a race related crime.
Lets be honest, according to the MSM and the police we are all sitting round the cohesion campfire singing kumbaya and John Lenon songs.
Really, has anything changed since the riots?
Well said jennyd! You beat me to it. There are probably lots of photos on Facebook by now, so it shouldn't be too difficult to identify the culprits.
I would have thought that there would be copious amounts of mobile phone video evidence, as that seems to be the norm these days. If so it should be submitted to the police as it could contain evidence of weapons, identification, registration plates, verbal abuse, threatening behaviour etc.
Have the police not asked witnesses for this information already?
Once again the police try to defend the actions of our local community .
Have Your Say
Sadly its a common occurence in Oldham these days. Upset the wrong person and within minutes a large weapon wielding gang appears, i have witnessed it myself. These people dont believe in the law of the land and only dish it out themselves. Slippery slope. Nobody took a single vehicle registeration mark thus enabling these thugs to be identified?
By timberwolf @ 22/02/2012 16:12:00