Media reports from the United Kingdom over the weekend have been reporting “large-scale” and “serious” troubles in the city of Leicester, Northwest of London. While the British rarely speak of “riots”, since the police prefer the term “disorder”, street clashes appear to have erupted between large groups of Hindus and Muslims, and 47 people have been arrested by the police with the aim of "deter[ring] further disorder".
Leicester has more South Asians than the British average, accounting for almost 20% of the city’s population, with 7.4% Muslims, 7.2% Hindus and 2.4% Sikhs. It seems trouble broke out in the eastern part of Leicester on 28 August when India defeated Pakistan (by 5 wickets with 2 balls remaining) in a group match in the Asia Cup T20 cricket tournament in Dubai -- and never quite settled down thereafter.
Last weekend’s disturbances were merely the latest of several similar incidents since then, involving mainly young men from the Muslim and Hindu communities.