STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Have you visited eBayTM lately? The Worlds Marketplace where you can buy and sell practically anything keeps getting better. From consumer electronics to movies, find it all on eBay. What are you waiting for? Try eBay today. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [In addition to the glaring, incontrovertible war crimes perpetrated by the Blair clique against the people of Yugoslavia and Iraq, the collapse today of autocrat Blair's puppet regime in Northern Ireland and the escalating racial violence within England itself prove that the henchmen occupying 10 Downing Street are incapable of governing their nation and protecting the most elementary rights of its people. Because of past recalcitrance and a history of brutal, frequently lethal, response to human rights demands in this benighted kingdom, the international community has an obligation to restore order in Britain and to jail the culprits responsible for this affront to civilized values. Have we learned nothing from the tragedy in Rwanda?] Saturday June 30 6:13 PM ET Fresh Racial Attacks Strike Northern England LONDON (Reuters) - A family of Asian origin narrowly escaped with their lives after their home was fire-bombed in the worst of several racially-motivated attacks in northern England overnight, police said. A spokeswoman for Lancashire police said two shops -- one of them beneath the family's home -- and two cars were set ablaze early on Saturday in the poor, former mill towns of Accrington and Burnley. Burnley and Accrington both have strong Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim communities. Unemployment in the towns is among the highest in Britain. Seven members of the family, including young children, escaped their burning home in Accrington after a child was woken by the smell of smoke, she said. Their home was completely destroyed. ``This is an appalling incident in which an entire family could have been killed. The whole community should band together to help identify the people responsible for putting children�s lives at risk,�� the spokeswoman said. Earlier, an Asian-owned greengrocer's shop was petrol-bombed in Burnley. The spokeswoman said no one was hurt and the shop suffered only minor damage. Last weekend police arrested 22 people in Burnley after street battles involving more than 200 white and youths of Asian origin. There have been sporadic attacks in the area throughout the week, including a hit-and-run on a white pedestrian. Burnley is 20 miles from Oldham, where Britain's worst race riots in more than a decade exploded last month. Authorities blamed right-wing extremists from outside the town for stoking tensions. Nick Griffin, leader of Britain's far-right British National Party (BNP) said white families in Burnley were being overlooked by local politicians who were diverting funds toward Asian areas. He also said it was ``Asian thugs�� who were treating people differently because of the color of their skin. ``Apartheid is already being introduced,�� Griffin told BBC Radio. Mohammed Nawaz, a Burnley community leader, said the BNP was stoking tensions in the town. ``People like Nick Griffin need to realize that Asians living in this country, the majority of them are as British as he is,�� he added. Around five percent of Britain's 57 million people are from ethnic minorities, mainly from the Caribbean, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. Police and community leaders hope to stop the trouble spreading to other areas of the north. The city of Leeds, 40 miles east of Oldham, was rocked by rioting earlier this month when gangs of whites, blacks and Asians fought running battles with police. Authorities said there was no evidence of a racial motive. The recent attacks came as human rights groups prepare to send the United Nations a report accusing Labour and Conservative politicians, as well as the media, of stoking racial hatred with their portrayal of asylum seekers, the Observer newspaper reported. In a report set to go the UN Human Rights Committee on Monday, 11 organizations, led by Liberty, the civil rights group, say negative presentation of asylum seekers not only led to direct attacks on asylum seekers but hostility to others from ethnic minorities. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
