Pakistani cricketers to get police protection

May 30 : Police protection has been agreed for Pakistan's cricketers during the second Test match at Old Trafford, the Lancashire County Cricket Club has confirmed.

The Old Trafford cricket pitch is only 10 miles from Oldham, which is still recovering from some of the worst racial violence experienced in Britain for more than a decade.

There are concerns that right wing white extremists from the racist National Front and the British National Party could exploit the Test match to provoke more fights with Pakistani cricket fans who have bought more than 45,000 tickets. 

Lancashire County Cricket Club's press officer Deborah Simpson confirmed to India Abroad that the Pakistani team had asked for police protection. They will be given a police escort to and from the Old Trafford grounds when the match starts tomorrow (Thursday).

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed has also told the British media that he will be seeking assurances about the safety of his team from both the police and local cricketing authorities.

Meanwhile Oldham police have disclosed that white and Asian gangs from outside the town helped to inflame last week's racial riots in and around the suburb of Glodwick.

Among those arrested, police have disclosed, are Pakistani youths from Bradford, more than 40 miles away. The police disclosure follows three nights of violence in the area.

Last Monday 21 people, 18 whites and three Asians, were arrested for public order offences. Yesterday, according to police sources, small gangs of whites chanted racist songs and held up abusive placards outside the homes of Pakistani and Bangladeshi families.

Some homes had their windows broken after they were attacked with bricks and stones.

Chief Superintendent Eric Hewitt has said, "There are already some indications that some of the people involved in the trouble in Glodwick were from places such as Bradford and Huddersfield and had no connection at all with Oldham.

"We will explore all the reasons why people had been throwing petrol bombs at officers, but we believe that some of the trouble was quite clearly pre planned.

Local town counselor Abdul Jabbar who represents the mainly Bangladeshi ward of Westwood in Oldham said, "We do not want people coming in from Bradford and Huddersfield to take advantage of the unrest, just as we do not want right wing extremists from the National Front and the British National Party stoking up trouble in the white communities."