Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

Despatch from Sheffield

Paul Allonby | 12.07.2005 09:42 | Analysis | Anti-racism | London | Sheffield

Sheffield has a long, proud history of welcoming newcomers from overseas. It is a friendly, multi-cultural city - but are sinister forces operating in the wake of the London bombings ?

Sheffield - one of the UK's largest cities - holds a special place in my heart. I was born here and, after working in "big business" in Edinburgh, Newcastle and other cities, returned here to start a fresh life out of the rat race. What struck me when I came back after 15 years away was how cosmopolitan the city had become.

In Sheffield, we've a proud history of welcoming newcomers and making them feel at home. Poles, Hungarians, Czechs; people from the West Indies; students from China, Hong Kong and Africa; political refugees from Chile; asylum seekers from Eastern Europe...they all add to the richness and diversity of our city.

"Sheffield people are really friendly," said Zachary, 24, an IT worker from Zimbabwe now living in the city's Highfields district. "I love it here - it's great."

But in the wake of the London bombings, evidence is mounting that sinister forces are at work. Posters from the BNP and an organisation called "England First" calling for repatriation have gone up in the Meadowhead area - where a lot of newcomers study at the city's Norton College.

Website entries have questioned how asylum seekers can get council accomodation when there's an eight-year housing list wait.

And one writer claiming to be from Sheffield tried to post a message on a BBC message board saying: "Asylum seekers are as welcome here as a paedophile at a kids party."

Then on Saturday (july 9 2005) the flagship Abbeyfield Park multi-cultural gala in Burngreave was called off when in full sway - with 8,000 people evacuated - after a bomb scare.

The gala last year won the Cohesion Award in the New Deal for Communities Achievements Awards competition and is
regarded as a landmark event in the city's calendar.

It was scheduled to be Sheffield's largest one-day event with 60 full-time and 30 part-time organisers having committed six months' work to the project, backed by 100 volunteers.

More than a dozen local bands and music acts from hip-hop to rock were listed on this year's bill, with stalls selling goods ranging from craft items and clothes to food from across the world.

But the party came to a halt at 4pm (five hours before its scheduled finish time) after police received a number of bomb warnings.

Local journalist David Walsh said:" Vendors had to abandon stalls, and thousands of revellers, many with young children, surged towards the exits.

"Eyewitnesses said some people resorted to climbing over walls and crush barriers were used as makeshift ladders so people could get out."

Lighting engineer Gary Priest said: "It was just getting to the point in the afternoon where everyone was relaxing, listening to some fantastic music. The park was evacuated quickly - it was very disappointing but necessary."

Police with sniffer dogs scoured the park in brilliant sunshine as the Bomb Squad was called in. But nothing was found.

The scare may be viewed - in the light of what happened in London - as a local inconvenience.

But a lot of people in Sheffield are hoping it's not the sign of worse things to come.

Paul Allonby
- e-mail: zones12003@yahoo.co.uk

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. Finish time — steve
  2. Good perspective — Danny-O
  3. late finishes — r7

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech