Police to investigate 'attack' on activist

Shahid Malik said a riot shield was smashed into him

Police are investigating claims that a prominent Labour party member was arrested and beaten by officers during clashes in Burnley.

Shahid Malik, 33, who sits on Labour's national executive and is a member of the Commission for Racial Equality, was hurt during an outbreak of violence on Monday night.

We are looking at racism...criminality.... thuggery and issues of deprivation

Paul Stephenson
Lancashire Police

A total of 22 people were arrested in skirmishes in the Lancashire town, but the incidents were not on the same scale as the weekend's violence.

Police told a news conference on Tuesday that the most serious incident was the petrol bombing of an Indian restaurant in a village outside the town centre.

But despite several other incidents early in the evening, the mood by the end of the night had become "friendly", said police.

Plans to sue

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said he believed several different issues had contributed to the unrest.

"I believe we are looking at racism. We are looking at elements of criminality. We are looking at elements of frustration.

The riot shield [was] smashed in my face, causing four to five stitches above the eye, a black eye, lacerations to the arm, bruises on the back of the head, on the body and on the legs

Shahid Malik

"We are looking at elements of thuggery and we are looking at issues of deprivation," he said.

Right-wing activists have been accused of helping to inflame tensions in Burnley and other areas of the north west that have suffered rioting.

The British National Party leader, Nick Griffin, received 16% of the vote in the strife-torn constituency of Oldham West and Royton at the general election.

He told BBC2's Newsnight programme that he had visited Burnley as part of his party's "strategy" to defuse tensions by offering a political alternative to disgruntled whites.

Division call

He called for "peace walls" similar to those in Northern Ireland to avoid clashes between different ethnic groups.

"In Oldham, Burnley and towns like that white pople are being forced out of their homes by Asian racists and Asian people are being forced out of their homes by white racists.

"Unless they are moved peacefully to divide the communities, as the British state has done in Belfast, they are going to be moved by violence, which nobody wants to see."

The incident in which Mr Malik was arrested happened after 1900BST in the Daneshouse area, said Chief Superintendent John Knowles.

Uniformed police came under attack when they tried to disperse gangs of Asian men and youths gathering.

Legal action

They had to be replaced with riot police, and it was in that operation that Mr Malik was injured.

Mr Malik, who lives in Burnley and is the son of the town's deputy mayor, said he plans to sue the police.

He said he had been trying to stop the violence when he was arrested by "very hyped-up" police in riot gear.

The pub was targeted on Saturday and Sunday nights

He said: "The riot shield [was] smashed in my face, causing four to five stitches above the eye, a black eye, lacerations to the arm, bruises on the back of the head, on the body and on the legs."

Mr Malik said he had fallen unconscious before being taken to hospital in handcuffs. He was later discharged.

Lancashire Police said they would investigate the incident, and all the circumstances surrounding it.

A member of the Police Complaints Authority will supervise the investigation.

Far-right concerns

Mr Malik said he hoped his arrest would not inflame tensions further, or lead to retaliatory attacks on officers.

"We don't want any trouble," he said. "The police are not the targets."

My fear is we become a kind of magnet for some of the far-right groups who will come here to recruit

Shahid Malik

He expressed concern that members of far-right parties were visiting the town to stir up trouble.

"That's the kind of attention we don't need," he said.

"My fear is we become a kind of magnet for some of the far-right groups who will come here to recruit."

Police have appealed for calm and warned that "large numbers" of officers would remain on the streets throughout Tuesday.

The weekend's violence, which saw shops, cars and a pub set on fire, was said to be sparked by an alleged attack on an Asian taxi driver by a gang of white youths.

Some have complained that the police took too long to respond to the incident.