Fears as text messages circulate calling for revenge over deaths
WEST Midlands Police are urging communities across Birmingham to remain calm over the hit and run deaths of three Asian men in the city after text messages began to circulate warning of revenge attacks.
Haroon Jahan, 21, Shahzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, were deliberately mown down by a car on Dudley Road in the Winson Green area of the city at 1.15am this morning.
Locals said the men had left a Mosque on Dudley Road shortly before the fatal hit and run and were protecting local businesses as rioting and looting hit parts of the city for a second night.
Now text messages seen by The Asian Today and circulating amongst the Asian community across Birmingham claim gangs from as far as London and Manchester are planning to riot in the city in retaliation at the deaths of the three men.
West Midlands Police Chief Constable Chris Sims said it was imperative communities put their trust in the police.
“The message at this difficult time would be that people across all communities must trust the police to protect them and we urge people to act with a sense of cool calculation,” he said. “We know people are worried, concerned and angered but we appeal to people to be calm and have confidence that we can build trust and move on.”
His message was echoed by the grieving father of Haroon Jahan, one of the three men tragically killed in the early hours of the morning.
Tariq Jahan urged people not to take matters into their own hands during a time when tensions are running high across the city.
He said: “I don’t want the community to fall out with people that have got nothing to do with this, the community doesn’t need that.
“My family wants time to grieve my son. People should let the law deal with this, not the people. It is already bad enough without people taking the law into their own hands.”
A 32-year-old arrested by Police is being questioned on suspicion of murder.
