Author: By Nick Britten
Publication: The Telegraph, UK
Date: October 17, 2001
URL: http://www.portal.telegraph.co.ok/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/17/nramp17.xml.&sSheet=/news/2001/10/17/ixhome.html
A TEENAGE girl needed treatment
in an intensive care unit after a gang attacked pupils and staff at a school
with hammers and axes.
Around 10 teenage boys smashed more
than 40 windows as children on their lunch break cowered in fear. Five
pupils were injured. Staff who rushed to protect them suffered cuts and
bruises.
The violence is understood to be
part of the escalating tension between Sikh and Muslim communities in Derby.
Police are investigating a link between the attack and a scuffle last week
involving three girls over the terrorist attacks on America, which ended
with one of them, a Muslim, having her headdress torn.
On Monday, the gang, understood
to be Muslims from a rival school, climbed through a hedge into the grounds
of Derby Moor Community School and, after smashing several windows, got
into the reception area.
Brandishing axes and hammers, they
attacked five pupils, one of whom was a 15-year-old girl said to have been
involved in the fracas the previous Friday. Children spoke of the group
"running wild, attacking anybody who got in their way".
As members of staff, including David
Roles, the headmaster, ran to protect their pupils, they were also attacked.
All five children were taken to hospital. Four were released after treatment.
The injured girl suffered head and
spine injuries and, after a period in intensive care at Derby Royal Infirmary,
had been transferred to a general ward last night. Her injuries were described
as serious, but not life threatening.
Police arrested two suspects, aged
15 and 17, the younger one having been wrestled to the ground and detained
by staff. Shortly after the incident, gangs roamed the streets near the
school, some chanting Osama bin Laden's name. Police stepped up their presence
at two multi-racial schools nearby for fear of copycat or revenge attacks.
One resident living near Derby Moor
Community School said: "It was frightening. There were young men hyped
up looking for trouble from anyone who wanted to give it to them. This
place has always had a record of inter-racial harmony but since September
11 things have gone downhill rapidly."
Stephanie Collins, a parent, said
she was telephoned by her daughter Amy, 14, shortly after the incident.
"She was very distraught and had run out of school. She said people were
running round smashing windows, carrying knives and hammers. There was
panic and she was absolutely petrified."
She kept Amy off school yesterday
because it was "unsafe". "I spoke to some teachers and they also feel security
has to be looked at." Tensions between the Sikh and Muslim communities
have increased since the riots in Oldham and Bradford this year and even
more so since September 11.
A Muslim group calling itself Real
Khilafa has been trying to whip up trouble by distributing a letter encouraging
young Muslims to take out Sikh girls to get them drunk and convert them
to Islam. The letter has incensed the considerable Sikh community and the
police have been present at meetings called by community leaders.
Mr Roles said: "We are very upset
that people should believe they can do this. If staff hadn't rallied round
it could have been much worse." Hardyal Dhindsa, of Derby City Council's
lifelong learning department, said he was satisfied at the level of security
at the school.
