Riots in the UK: Why and who is behind? How is the Bangladeshi community?

August 08, 2024
How is the Bangladeshi community in UK
  • The Bangladeshi community in Britain is deeply concerned about this situation

Immigrant Muslims are the main target of ongoing riots across Britain. As the city of London is a majority of immigrants, the situation in London is relatively better, but in cities and areas where the number of immigrants is less, immigrants are being abused in various ways. There have been cases of attacks on the homes and businesses of Bangladeshis in various cities.

Britain experienced violence over anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashing with police, fuelled by right-wing activists spreading misinformation about a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.

Millions of Britons, including Bangladeshis, are now collectively protesting in favour of immigrants and against the far-right in various cities in the UK, including London. White people are also joining the protest. The far-right has called for more marches against immigrants in the UK. But at the same time thousands of people. They raised anti-apartheid slogans.

The Bangladeshi community in Britain is deeply concerned about this situation. Threats of attacks are coming one after another on the mosques of the community. Hijabi Bangladeshi women are afraid to go out of the house without a car for work or urgent needs. Millions of Muslim families in Britain are unable to celebrate the school holiday despite the children's holiday period.

The Bangladeshi community in Britain is deeply worried about the riots that have been going on in various places in Britain for about ten years. Whenever a left-wing Labour government comes to power in Britain, a group incites the far-right. It is now clear that extreme right-wing, anti-immigrant racists are behind the riots across the country. Behind the EDL and Tommy Robinson there is a conglomerate working for political ends.

Rajan Uddin Jalal has led the Bangladeshi community in the anti-apartheid movement in Britain since the seventies. He told Daily Dazzling Dawn our generation is old now. Many of us who fought against racism in the seventies and eighties died. Many are sick. Joint efforts of all, including the young generation of the community and the mosques, are necessary to stop the racists. Rajan Uddin Jalal said that they have called a meeting to decide what to do next Monday.

Nasrullah Khan, former senate member of Dhaka University and CEO of the London School of Commerce and IT, told the Daily Dazzling Dawn this country belongs to everyone. Immigrants are being played. Racists are behind it. Here, for the sake of the country, everyone should be united regardless of the party in Britain.

Md. Lukman Uddin, a veteran leader of the Bangladeshi community in Britain, said that immigrants from different countries are taking their work, which is the accusation of racists. It is a proven fact that the white people in this country have not worked for three or four generations in this country and have lived completely dependent on government benefits. 

After 1947, the British government brought immigrants from different countries, including Bangladesh, with various visas to improve the economy in order to keep the mills running as the population decreased in the country. 

Swadhin Khashru, an artist and actor and an active leader in the anti-apartheid movement in London, said that there is now a fourth generation of Bangladeshis in Britain. I did not expect to see this situation now.

When did the violence begin?People across Britain were shocked by what police described as a “ferocious knife attack” that killed three girls between 6 and 9 on July 29 in Southport, a seaside town north of Liverpool. Eight other children and two adults were injured.Police detained a 17-year-old suspect. Rumours, later debunked, quickly circulated on social media that the suspect was an asylum-seeker or a Muslim immigrant. The next day, as people gathered to comfort one another and lay flowers at the site, hundreds of protesters attacked a local mosque with bricks, bottles, and rocks. Police said the rioters were “believed to be supporters of the English Defence League,” a far-right group that has organised anti-Muslim protests since 2009.

Authorities on Aug. 1 took the unusual step of identifying the underage suspect in an effort to stop the rumours about his identity, which were fuelling the violence.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. The suspect was born in Wales in 2006 and moved to the Southport area in 2013. His parents were originally from Rwanda.

How did the aggression proliferate? According to the government and police, far-right extremists propagated false information about the incident, causing the riots to spread to cities and towns across various regions of the United Kingdom. According to Stephanie Alice Baker, a sociologist at City University of London who specialises in crowd behaviour and the far right, social media videos inspire those who share similar views to participate in the kinds of discontent they witness online.

Have the police reacted appropriately? 

According to Williams, police departments are still having trouble recovering from the budget cuts that essentially eliminated neighbourhood policing. The fact that there is a steady flow of intelligence is one of the main benefits of neighbourhood policing, he said. "Well, that's missing," especially in places with a lower minority.

Bangladeshi community at the forefront of anti-apartheid movement in Britain:

A small park, formerly St Mary's Park, in the City of London, Billet, on Edler Street, White Church Lane, and White Chapel High Street. As soon as you enter the park, you will see 'Altab Ali Park' written in English in big letters. Altab Ali was a Bengali immigrant from London. He worked as a factory worker. In the seventies of the last century, there was an anti-apartheid movement in Britain. On May 4, 1978, on his way home from work, he was brutally murdered by some unidentified racists in East London's Edler Street. Two Bangladeshis were killed in this movement.

Thousands of people erupted in protests over the death of Altab Ali in a racist attack. Anti-apartheid movement gets a new dimension. People come down the street. Altab Ali's death served as an important 'turning point' in this movement.

Altab Ali's name spread through people's mouths through massive protests. That is why in 1998 St. Mary's Park on Edler Street in East London was named Altab Ali Park in his honor.  In the name of Altab Ali Park in London, it is established as a tower of inspiration for Bangladeshis to fight against the racist forces. This Shaheed Tower was built in the southern part of Altab Ali Park in East London in 1999, which is the first Shaheed Minar built outside the country.

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Munzer Ahmed Chowdhury, journalist and author, London.