Disorder in Leeds

What ethnicity is that exactly?
I wouldn’t have been able to guess from the pictures. Did see a few articles confirm they were speaking romanian. I’m guessing you think otherwise

Enterthewolves. That’s really shit. They absolutely should be in the catchment area. Especially those towards the Oakwood end of Harehills. That’s really sad kids can’t go there.

We have eyes we can see exactly what ethnicity they are ….

The kind of families Social Services take kids away from often do react aggressively and even violently. The difference here is that others have supported the family in that reaction.

spot on! This is the crux of it they don’t want to abide by our rules! So leave then just don’t come her and riot and burn buses etc we don’t operate like that …

Roundhay takes almost no children from Harehills - they are out of catchment.

style, hair cut… British mobs usually have their little man bags, designer sports wear and keep their hair ‘trim’.

Yes, I can see that because you are half East Asian-I presume you mean your dad is from somewhere else. But both my parents, my two sisters and all my ancestors are from Italy-it just so happens that I was born here when my parents had lived in England for 14 months. It would be unthinkable to call myself English when everyone else belonging to me was Italian-my blood is not one drop different to theirs.
Others may feel differently but I know enough in the same situation as me to say confidently that most don't!
My point is the utter craziness of English people to want to label everyone English- even if they don't have one drop of English blood, It's bloody patronising for one thing and for another, it does lead to all sorts of problems if then English people simply won't acknowledge that we are not exactly the same.

I'm European, so carry most of the same values, look like you and follow the Catholic religion-the religion that used to be the religion of this country, so I'm practically your first cousin and yet I don't feel or want to acknowledge myself as English.

Many people from another culture entirely with an entirely different religion must feel this ten times more and yet here are people shoving it down everyone's throat that all it takes is a bit of legal paper or being born under this piece of sky with not one drop of English blood and hey ho, you're English.

I think they-and I- are not and probably don't want to be either. If we accepted differences nad that some of those differences mean unpalatable things-then we wouldn't be in the silly position of some on this thread pretending that these riots were caused by English people.

Until people start referring to Cliff Richard and Felicity Kendal as Indian British, then it's all just nonsense I'm afraid.

Still, there's none so blind as those who think that being English is a marvellous compliment and one that every person who lives here is automatically English and wanting to be suburban Mr Jones. They don't. Some might but there are exceptions to every rule.

it looks as if the rioters in Harehills were mostly Asian. How do I know this? I have eyes.

The kids that didn't have parents bothered about them and the ones whose parents cared about them but let them out more and had seemingly abs no idea what they were knocking about with all ended up worst off! My mum wasn't great but she told me never to do drugs, don't get pregnant young and would not let me hang out with the wrong types I was also sensible enough to know who to steer clear of so I turned out ok but it's a shame to see kids that were old friends who had lovely parents but very out of touch with what was around the wider area that there kids were mixed in with turn out, one died at 24 due to smack and drug overdose and another was snorting hundreds of pounds of cocaine wkly! The others who had absent parents, 1 mental health issues for life sectioned a few times, another became part of a drug gang, a couple of other lads died of drug overdose and many are in abject poverty or long term drug users. So sad they were all once just kids that thought it was cool and better to follow that route, most of them in their 40s now are still doing this but how long will they be here for, what of the world have they seen, they likely will neve see their grandkids, my child has no grandparents and i often hate myself for bringing her into a life without that it breaks my heart but I didn't realise all of this until the last 5 yrs when I've had time to think over it all and back to how bad it actually all was!

Exactly.

You'd think the police would have learned from the London riots in 2011 of what happens when you go into "community" mode.

Again just what I’ve read/seen on social media. A Roma family. Children were removed due to an injury to a sibling that happened a while ago. Child taken to hospital and then I guess the incident/injury was reported to social services and the process towards removal began. I saw one video with a crowd already gathering and children being removed by police.

You are absolutely mad if you think rioting England football team fans would have got the same gentle hands treatment as the crowds last night did.

That's what we do in this country . If children are left alone and are injured they are taken into care . We don't riot over it . That's how we do things in the UK it's horrible for the kids and the parents but it's not racism . When you live in a different country their rules are their rules . Things are done differently in other countries.

@NasiDagang I was looked down on by my family when I got out of there and practically ignored, I met a distant one once never again who said Kim get the finest bone china out this ones from a town outside of here! I said what I don't choose to live in a shit hole like u and u forget I was raised drinking out go jam jars a jam jar will do I'm not stuck yo my own arse you ideot bc I chose a better way of life but not mention it I'll take the China cup! Does my head in ideots, he was also so racist such an abs ignorant ideot! What would he do if he realised one day he was born in a war torn country and had kids future lives weighing on his mind every single nihht unable to sleep with worry! Course he wouldn't just stay there and try to do better for his family! Fukin pisses me off that stupid white mentality of abs zero consideration for anyone else's situation! These people on all honestly and I'm white myself are bone bloody idle and just like to talk shit all day and it's easier to pull the racism card when it's their own employers and government that are screwing them over allowing people who come here to be paid less and gain more work due to their unscrupulous ways of making money! They need to blame the sodding government! They weren't doing their job properly managing employers, like national wage age bands it's a joke if person A is 18 and can wait tables and so can person B who is 40+ they're doing exact same job why pay one less than the other! This is being reformed also it makes no sense, so long as you can do the job it shoot matter what age you are abs joke, if the issues is it isn't allowing younger people to enter employment then the gov should make it mandatory that all employers take on a set % of youth workers, it's not that hard is it!

I blame the inept government for. A lot of these issues, people really need to wake up and sit and really think about why we're in the mess that we are and you'll find your answers!

@Carebearsonmybed you need to have lived in it to undertand it entirely agree, I have a lot of empathy for homeless for this reason, many end up this way bc they've had to leave homes due to abuse of all types! My own mother left home at 15 after her mum died of cancer when she was just 11 her dad became physically abusive, last of 7 siblings all left and she was on her own, she lived with friends and in a pub and it became so hard for her she tried to kill herself, she didn't succeed & I think got pregant at just 21 to have a safe roof over her head it's awful and so sad. But what happens to men in these situations, when a boy leaves home at 16 due to abuse can't find a place to live or it runs out and they can't cope they can't get pregnant to get a place, they end up homeless or on drugs, it's not that easy it really isn't for anyone to just say just get a job it's not! They leave with abs fuck all but pain and heartbreak and emptiness and no one around them to help them through life, work in itself when your uneducated is low paid and oftentimes awfully stressful and difficult you have to deal with soem vile people I know bc every job I've had and I've had many being brave enough to leave seeking a decent manager but in lower paid work they don't exist, it's easier I think for many in this life to just live how they do they in some ways feel an unrealistic sense of belonging they never had growing up it's that or struggle in other ways. I left and me and my partner have had to fight tooth and nail to get out of that life, I've been bullied in a couple of jobs for being simply hard working and keeping to my bloody self! I've had to leave at the worst times and my partners had to help support me, I wanted to be a nurse but I couldn't bc I have a child and my husbands job is our lifeline I have to work around him and my child, I was told by large local hospital recruitment manager that I would struggle with the shifts the have they don't have anything for mothers! I want to better myself, have a job that fulfills me helping people, give something back to the community I don't want to be tied to my dead end office job with the local council with a Hitler bully of a boss bc she knows I am trapped and this is the best I can get! We have no decent family either side of us to help me to do that work I know in my heart I should be doing.

Sometimes I sit here and wonder if it'd been easier or better if I'd just lived fast had my kids much younger than I was able to having to work harder to save money to be able to support ourselves and keep the bills paid, I would have been given a house, money to pay for the bills, never been bullied at work I countless jobs bc of my work ethic and quietness, I don't make mistakes bc some ar quite happy to drag you through dirt to get you sacked it's vile it's been so hard, jjsy so I could afford to live in a street where I can sleep at night more soundly and amongst people my child can play with others kids I don't have to worry about being abused or eventually being turned on to drugs or early teen pregnancy, we've gone through this for our child, clearly not many people are willing to make that hard choice. Despite how damned hard it's been I'm proud so proud of us both of battling our way to where we are, it's something so close to me and is with me everyday the emotional scars of it all, my mother was vile, dad wanted me only to not have to pay maintenance, step dad turns out to be a leach, user and total loser, his daughter hates me, I lost my btother who I loved dearly when he was only just turned 21 as went to France to get away from my father who forced his opinions on his then girlfriend about having an abortion he was devastated and fell to his death in southern France we don't know we will never know if it was an accident or suicide.

Overall it's sad for people who end up like so many do but I can totally understand why, I don't excuse their behaviour but some are just not switched on enough to either know any better, or choose the easier route and some don't have the capability educationally or acadmecially and for those I feel sorry for too, it must be so hard, my husband got us out of their discovering he was gifted in maths which was a god send! I am talented with helping people but service role hours are not suited to working families particularly mothers with husbands who work long hrs, more part time shifts with more flexibility need to be created! We wonder why we have a nursing recruitment problem times have got to change!!!

@OlgaBracley as a mixed child too i have a question. what about outside of the family like if you asked an italian who lived in Italy would they still see you as Italian.

it might be very different to my experience but my mum is from east asia, i am half east asian but i do pass as white european if i am being completely fair. I know that to anyone other then my dm i do not count as asian or asian enough. it was certainly made clear to me when i went to an international school there growing up. at the same time being raised by my mum and her side of the family i was fluent in the language and my tastes and interests were i guess more influenced by my asian side. this meant i truly did not feel i belonged to either group. i was either oh the white girl that is friendly with us or oh the friend that happens to be odd and not fully fit in

I don't think it was caused by "Asians"?

You're right, the media is carefully avoiding mentioning the ethnicity of those involved, but it wasn't Asian (what does that mean anyway?)

This isn’t the first time there’s been riots in harehills. They don’t act as a catalyst to make things better.

It’s got worse since 2001. Of course there’s areas that are nicer than others. But as a whole the area has a lot of crime. Especially violent crime.

Dealing with it from within, as someone suggested isn’t working. And a lot of money and resources have gone into the area to try and improve things and cut down on anti social behaviour

Italian. My mother would have exploded if someone called me English!

@mimblewimble yes predominantly white, this is how I believe it turned out how it did, a lot of the families living there came from a neighbouring much rougher estate, a council estate formed after ww2, my family on mothers side was large, 8 siblings in total it was app encouraged after ww2, it was explained to me they were given a home as their ages meant after coming out of ww2 that had no money from work as were in the war, so houses were given out, large families were encouraged, they were all mostly devout catholics! Contraception was not favoured, I recall my mother talking about this being the issue, most families from there were big! Poor being post war famiiies, my line was farming this was no more after moving in to the suburbs near the towns. So we're taking 50-60s in to the 70-80s, council estate culture began with the estate community centres where everyone knows everyone else and everyone pretty much does what everyone else does. They spilled in to the closer town suburbs and bc their parents in the 50s then couldn't cope with so many kids they all left home fairly young knowing they'd get a council property if deemed homeless and those people are now in their late 50 to 60s and some of their kids my generation are doing the same.

With regards to other cultures, that area filled up with council and housing association families from all very similar backgrounds, it became in time as bad as the council estate their families came from, then what happens it becomes a poor run down area where the council put anyone else with no money in to like immigrants etc, they were there but when I was there most kept to themselves particularly Polish or Eastern Europeans and many did work. There was a large Pakistani community just outside of that town but again kept to themselves & out of the local culture i was a part of but there was racial issues mainly in my view kicked off by the white community, this bred a hatred on both sides, I took no part in that but was targeted by young Pakistani lads walking home from town from work but they were so young and I understood why they were sadly how they were, a lot of that now has died out, there were mixes of people from black race also but only very few and most again kept to themselves, but there were more from this race that would occ become involved with the white community gangs but back then the issue was mostly white. I've not lived there for a while now but I see a lot more diversity and a lot of the original problem people are much older now I think as time has passed those people and that gang culture has changed bc I don't think many had kids themselves that followers in their footsteps, many didn't have children or any that did have had very different characters of children or moved out of the area. It's interesting to see some of their children are clearly total opposite characters of the kids I grew up with, they were like their parents and then there were so many and this is how it can easily snowball in generations.

think unless you live there and understand the culture and why it appears how it does its easy to blame other ethnic minorities back then this wasn't stemming from foreigners it was the white culture post war, Asians and black people mostly kept to themselves.

But...when I look at the Leeds photos of this incident I do see many different ethnicities possibly European, Asian perhaps, of course in turn culture changes it is possible that some Asian children may have adopted some of the less favourable original British ways of life's in poorer areas and this is why you now see this with people of non white colour also.

But crux of it is that poor area, poor upbringings, children allowed to run riot and feral choosing their own life paths badly with no guidance and it all comes from poor uneducated areas and nowadays is of all colour

This is near where I live - thankfully not close enough to be living in the area but we could see the smoke from our house.
Harehills has been getting worse for years now. About 4 years ago we took the DC to a nearby fireworks display and had fireworks thrown at the car as a riot just broke out suddenly. It was terrifying to drive through.

You are right, the media is ridiculous! Not one report has mentioned that white middle class teenagers has been beating up the disabled and the elderly people in my community. White kids can be thugs as well! Not just 'Asians' as you put it.

I'm just curious if Italians consider you Italian or maybe British Italian?

(This isn't a criticism or anything! I'm just interested)

really interesting to read comments from people who don't live in the area and are reacting to posts on various forms of media.

The incident happened pretty much at the end of my street and it definitely wasn't a 'riot'...there was a stupid amount of police in the area and all the people you can see were locals wandering down to see what was happening...the police helicopter and drone were deafening.

There was no damage to any of the local shops or any private property. No one was injured.

As a foster carer for 20 years I can say Social Services are sometimes ....trying to find a polite way to say utterly useless (before I get called on this I have also known some fantastic social workers)....so I'm taking the news of them removing a child for neglect with a pinch of salt.

Harehills is a mixed area with lots of poverty and generations of neglect from all Government and council services...but I've lived here 30 years and for all the problems its a lovely place to live with lovely people.

You have explained things clearly. Well done!