Racist attacks in Scotland
01 January 1991
Racist attacks in Scotland
artdoc June=1991
Police are treating an incident at Ballahouston Academy,
Glasgow, as racial. According to the Glasgow Evening Times,
`a playground incident between a black youth and a white youth
escalated into a full scale gang fight'. Plain-clothes police
are now keeping a daily watch on the school.
Earlier this year Strathclyde Education Department
launched training courses to deal with racist incidents.
Ballahouston Academy has the highest number of non-white pupils
in Glasgow and a report from a Glasgow University professor in
March revealed evidence of racism at the Academy. Around the
same time, the police were called in to investigate the fact
that the British National Party were putting up racist stickers
near the school and calling for black pupils to be expelled.
(Glasgow Evening Times 18.9.90)
Four Arab students from Glasgow University who were
attacked at the Tuxedo Princess nightspot have decided to quit
their studies because of racial violence. One of the four
youths, Salim Farea from the United Arab Emirates, was slashed
in the face with a broken glass and hit on the arms, neck and
legs, whilst the others suffered cuts and bruises. Salim said
that, `There is no doubt in my mind it was a racially motivated
attack... Verbal abuse was hurled during the attack'. The
Glasgow Evening Times (30.8.90) says that one of the attackers,
who was very drunk, may have objected to the Moslem custom of
men dancing together. (Glasgow Evening Times 30.8.90)
Sheriff William Christie has warned that people who carry
out attacks in the Kircaldy area will be sent to jail. The
Sheriff gave his warning when sentencing a 17-year-old to three
months detention for covering a Pakistani shopkeeper's van with
slogans, before setting fire to it. The youth, Steven Moffatt,
also admitted previously damaging the van by marking it with
paint and with racist graffiti. (Dundee Courier 8.9.90;
Edinburgh Evening News 8.9.90; Scotsman 19.9.90)
Joseph Steadman, age 17, was fined ¼100 at Cumbernauld
and District Court for hurling racist abuse at staff at
the Vineyard stores in the town centre. (Cumbernauld News
19.9.90) The Edinburgh Evening News (11.9.90) reports that
`Hibs Casuals' slogans have been daubed on the walls of a
Dumbredykes store belonging to an Asian family. Messages like:
`Go home scum', `No blacks allowed', `Take your tribe home' and
'your van's next' were accompanied by swastikas and NF symbols
as well as a knife painted on the pavement alongside the words
`I wonder'. Reports suggest that some Hibernian football fans
have links with extreme right-wing groups and that Hibs Casuals
have taken to wearing South African rugby shirts.
Meanwhile, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
have drawn up a six-point plan to help councils deal with
racial harassment. It urges police to press for criminal
prosecutions, especially where the victim is willing to give
evidence. (Glasgow Evening Times 13.9.90)
IRR Police-Media Bulletin No 64. Institute of Race Relations,
2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS