Grieving father's voice of sanity: As 'race murder' of three young Asians sends riot city to boiling point, man who lost son calls for calm

• Tariq Jahan Urges people not to seek revenge for his son's death
• Desperately tried to perform CPR on his dying son Haroon, 21
• Brothers Shazad Ali, 30 and Abdul Musavir, 31, were the other fatalities
  
• Trio were were knocked down by a car doing 50mph
  
• Prime Minister offers his condolences to the victims' families
• Racial tensions simmer in Winson Green area of Birmingham
  

By Michael Seamark for MailOnline
Updated: 04:26 EDT, 11 August 2011

Dignity: Tariq Jahan holds a picture of his son who was killed in an alleged racist murder. He made a rousing speech calling for peace in Birmingham yesterday afternoon

It would have been so easy to demand ‘an eye for an eye’ and risk a race war on the riot-torn streets.

But with immense dignity, Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son was mown down and killed in an apparently racist murder in Birmingham, appealed for calm yesterday.

Haroon Jahan was one of three young Muslims who died after they were thrown into the air ‘like tennis balls’ when they were hit by a car which mounted the pavement at 50mph while they were trying to protect local shops from looters on Tuesday night.

The shocking killings, the worst incident in four nights of rioting across Britain, left the city a tinderbox after it was confirmed that the man arrested on suspicion of murdering the Asians is black.

Locals claimed that Afro-Caribbean gangs had been prowling the area, setting light to cars and shouting at Muslims ‘you will burn’ just before the alleged murders.

As racial tensions rose to boiling point with some Muslims calling for ‘retribution’, 45-year-old Mr Jahan – who desperately tried to revive his dying son – urged people not to seek revenge.

Standing on a wall in front of a crowd he said: ‘I lost my son. Blacks, Asians, whites – we all live in the same community.

‘Why do we have to kill one another? Why are we doing this?

‘Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home – please.’

The Prime Minister, on a visit to Birmingham, offered his condolences for the ‘truly dreadful’ deaths.

When darkness fell, heavy rain set in and a crowd of around 150 Asian men began to disperse. Police continued to maintain a presence.

Mowed down: Haroon Jahan, 21, left, Shazad Ali, 31, and Abdul Musavir, 30, were killed in a hit and run during riots in Birmingham

Haroon Jahan is pictured in a school photograph, while Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir are pictured as toddlers

As the violence that has swept Britain threatened to take on a frightening new racial dimension:

• David Cameron will set out plans today to combat ‘sick’ elements in British society after backing the use of water cannon and rubber bullets;
• Stand-offs developed between police and groups of men claiming to be acting as vigilantes in the London areas of Eltham and Enfield;
• London mayor Boris Johnson angered Number Ten by using the riots to demand a rethink on planned cuts to the police budget;
• A primary school worker, postman and an 11-year-old boy were among the first of the 805 people arrested in London to appear in court;
• Amid fears of more copycat violence spreading across the country, 1,000 police were on duty in Manchester and reinforcements were drafted into the West Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Avon & Somerset, and Gloucestershire.

Tensions were already running high in Birmingham on Tuesday. Hours before the three men died a 39-year-old woman, Rashida Ahmed, was attacked by a gang of 12 black men in the Alum Rock area of the city.

Mechanic and keen amateur boxer Haroon, business graduate Shazad Ali, 30, and his brother Abdul Musavir, 31, had left their mosque after evening prayers at 11.30pm on Tuesday.

They were standing in Dudley Road when the speeding car allegedly swerved into them deliberately.

Local resident Mohammed Shakiel said: ‘They lost their lives for other people, doing the job of the police.

‘They weren’t standing outside a mosque, a temple, a synagogue or a church – they were standing outside shops where everybody goes. They were protecting the community as a whole.’ 

Haroon’s cousin Ali Hussain said the killings were part of simmering race problems in the area and warned militant  members of the Asian community were planning to launch ‘retribution’ attacks on the black gangs.

Tariq Hussain, 48, watched the attack unfold and warned that the community would take revenge for the killing.

The shopowner, who is a close family friend of Mr Jahan’s, said: ‘The car hit all three of them up and sent them up like tennis balls. Other Asian  people pelted the car with bricks and it drove off.

‘People want to act, but the police won’t let us. We want justice and if anyone comes here tonight, they will be asking for trouble.’

Another man said: ‘There will be race riots if the police don’t sort this out quickly.’

Rousing speech: Mr Jahan delivers his statement calling for calm in a street in Birmingham asking: 'Why do we have to kill one another?'

He accused largely African-Caribbean looting gangs of  targeting Asian-owned businesses, easier targets compared with the city centre which was full of police.

Shazad Ali ran a car valeting firm. His wife Khansa is four months pregnant. His brother Abdul Musavir was a part-time pizza delivery man.

Last night their sister Sumera Ali, 25, echoed other family members in calling for calm. But she also called for justice, saying: ‘Life should be life. I just hope they don’t get a slap on the wrists and get away with a couple of years.’

West Midlands Chief Constable Chris Sims said a 32-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder because information at the moment ‘would support the idea that the car was deliberately driven’.

Fingertip search: A group of police officers examine the pavement close to where the three men died

A police forensics officer steps past a shoe as he inspects the scene where the three men were killed by a car in Winson Green

A forensic worker places markers on the road at the location where the three men were knocked down

Calling for calm, he added: ‘Like everyone else in Birmingham, my concern now will be that that single incident doesn’t lead to a much wider and more general level of distrust, and even worse, violence, between different communities.

‘At these difficult times, people across all our communities must trust the police to protect them.

‘If we are calm, I’m absolutely confident that the people of the West Midlands can get through this and that we can rebuild trust between communities.’

Rising tension where black and Asian lived side by side in peace

By DAVID WILKES and NICK MCDERMOTT

Clifton Stewart was among the first to offer his condolences to Haroon Jahan’s family yesterday.

The 80-year-old Jamaican father of three and his wife have lived next door to Haroon’s Asian parents in multi-racial Winson Green since 1993.

‘It’s very sad – he was a nice boy,’ said Mr Stewart, a retired factory worker who came to England in 1960.

‘I’ve never had any argument with anyone here. Everyone gets along.

‘But I’m a bit frightened now. You don’t know where the uprising is going to be next.’

Paying respects: Locals in Winson Green lay flowers at the garage near where the three men were hit

Amid the rising tensions caused by the killing of Haroon and his two friends by a car driven by a black man, Mr Stewart was not alone last night in fearing the tragedy could spark further violence in the area.

Shakeel Hussain, 36, a carer, said: ‘There is a lot of anger. I’ve heard some people say they’re not going to let this slide

‘I hope people respect what Haroon’s father said and don’t take the law into their own hands.’

At the end of the 18th century, housing developed in Winson Green as it was considered to be far enough from the smoke of the main city of Birmingham, but close enough for easy access via the Dudley and Wednesbury turnpikes.

In the middle of the 19th century, the area was used for the lunatic asylum, workhouse and fever hospital.

United in grief: A large group of men gather in the street where the three men died. The area has a large mix of ethnic minority residents, many of whom have offered their condolences

It is now a run-down inner-city area best known for being the location of HM Prison Birmingham. The area has large Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities. It is part of the city’s Soho ward, where ethnic minorities make up three-quarters of the population.

According to the 2001 census, Asians accounted for 47 per cent of the ward’s total 25,634 population, Afro-Caribbeans 18 per cent, and other black 2 per cent.

Winson Green is a five-minute drive from Handsworth, scene of notorious race riots in the 1980s.

Some claim these were fuelled by a nationwide wave of uprisings in the wake of the 1981 Brixton riot. Other sources have suggested that the local black British felt aggrieved at the increase in Asian-owned businesses which were prospering in the area.

Tributes: A man lights a candle to place beside flowers left at the scene in Winson Green where the three men were run down

Grieving: The pain on this man's face is clear to see as he is comforted by others, while a man wipes his tears with a handkerchief as they mourn the three deaths in Birmingham

Latent tensions between the two communities were brought into sharp focus again in 2005 in another nearby area, Lozells, where a man was stabbed to death during rioting triggered by a rumour, never substantiated, that a 14-year-old black girl had been caught shoplifting by a Pakistani shopkeeper and subsequently gang-raped.

The people of Winson Green are at pains to stress that it has never seen trouble of the level seen in either Handsworth or Lozells.

But yesterday tensions almost boiled over at a meeting of community representatives following the killing of the three young Asian men.

A crowd of more than 200 males, mostly teenagers, were unable to gain access to the packed talks at Summerfield Community Centre, and vented their frustration at officers stationed outside. At 3.30pm a brief scuffle broke out with a passing black youth.

Onlookers: A group of men wait by the scene of the incident in the Winson Green area of Birmingham

Memorial: A group of men tie their floral tributes to a lamppost

Some of those in the crowd moved quickly to defuse the situation but feelings remained high, with some calling for direct action against the alleged perpetrators, prompting Haroon’s father Johan to appeal for calm on the streets.

Mounting a wall outside the community centre, he said: ‘I don’t want you to fight. I’m lost for words. Go home please, go home.’

Dozens of the youngsters took heed and left. But a larger number remained and angrily continued to debate the deaths.

As dusk fell on Dudley Road, the scene of the tragedy, Carol White, 50, a black mother of four who has lived in Winson Green all her life, said: ‘It doesn’t matter what colour you are. For anyone to lose a son is sad. I’m just praying that nothing more happens tonight.’

This burnt out car sits in a street in the Birmingham district, where the riots and the deaths of three men have affected every resident, no matter what race

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