The Burley riots of 1969

In 1969 West Leeds was home to less than 400 Pakistani’ migrants, a sizeable number of whom had made the Hyde Park and Burley Road  area their home. This now welcoming and diverse student  melting pot was not always as welcoming ,according to the recollections of individuals and subsequent news reports in the late 60s.

One  hot summers day in late July, the fatal stabbing of a white, 19 year old Youth, outside a local café, (where now the carpark opposite the Grand mosque is located ,by the shops off Alexander road) and the subsequent arrest of a south Asian male catalysed a hunger for revenge, retribution and mischief as a mob of over 1200 native people descended upon the Burley Road area. Only 15 hours after the young man had passed away in Hospital from his injuries, two days of rioting, arson and attacks were carried out in the area surrounding the scene of the stabbing.

“My dad had rushed home and started telling me to help him board up the windows and barricade the doors, that evening. We were really scared. At that moment I didn’t feel welcome here, as a young child when I saw the fear in my father’s eyes”.(Pervaiz Hashmi).

Rioters were heard calling for Pakistani’s to be brought out of their homes! Local papers reported that mobs had launched ‘ stones, rocks and dustbin Lids at the windows of houses suspected to be lived in by people of colour. Parked cars were vandalised and set alight, glass and rubbish was left  over the streets as well as being  launched at locals ,particularly people of colour’.

A number of people , particularly Asian males, were set upon by individual rioters, sworn and spat at in the streets and threatened .”Paki Paki”  could be heard loudly in the streets as rioters called for Pakistani migrants to be brought out of their homes.

Many chose not to leave their homes safely for work with a number of Men reporting sick or unable to go to work with the rise in attacks and assaults on lone walkers. Muhammad Raza would later report that he was chased and verbally bullied by 5 Caucasian males on the first day of the riots and was then too traumatised to return to work the following few days .

It was reported that by the 2nd of August, a number of families had already begun to relocate from the area to nearby towns such as Bradford and other areas of Leeds due to the severe concerns of ongoing violence , targeting of Asian workers and their properties and the unsafety  felt for their children.

Three men would later be arrested and found guilty of disturbing the peace, use of threatening behaviour and damage to vehicles. and sentenced for damage to cars and provoking the crowds who had  set fire to cars, bins. Simply 3 convictions, reflected the lack of investigation and accountability of many who had been heavily involved in hateful actions.

It is interesting to note that politically, around this year, popular Politician, Enoch Powell had raised concerns regarding the growth of Migrant communities in the UK and the potential fears for integration, crime rates and social cohesion. It was popularly interpreted or inferred to anti-migration protesters as a call to take suspicion of minorities and the infamous rivers of Blood speech was seen to validate such fears. Only earlier in the week, a British National movement had picketed leaflets calling for the south Asian community to be repatriated and removed from Britain.

Rafiq Khotia remembered seeing white neighbours and friends join the riot, regardless of the tolerance they had shown their friend over the years.2They seemed angry, unlike themselves and many seemed proud of their actions.

By the 3rd of August the situation had calmed and yet bitter scars had been left for the residents of Colour in not only Burley but across the City where Asian families resided such as Blackman lane and Chapeltown Road.