Chalvey Boyz V Shere-E-Punjab, 14.10.05
There may be calm right now on the streets of Slough hit by gang violence eight years ago, but Eastern Eye has found teenagers poised to restart one of the bitterest inter-Asian conflicts.
Muslim schoolboys, whose parents hope would be concentrating on their exams, openly talk about taking revenge on Sikhs. They are waiting for the right time to strike, learning in the meantime from their older brothers who started the initial troubles. The fights will lead to bloodshed in Slough.
That is the scene in Chalvey, a predominately Muslim district of Slough, where underneath a superficial layer of harmony broods a sense of cultural tension.
It dates back to the ugly scenes of April 1997, when an 80-strong gang known as the Shere-e-Punjab, a Birmingham-based group, arrived in the town waving Sikh flags before attacking homes and cars.
They were there to fight the Chalvey Boyz, Islamic extremists who had been cautioned by the police only months earlier for threatening non-Muslim students outside a college in nearby Hounslow.
Tensions between the two gangs had existed before then and there are rumours Shere members never wore green, the national colour of Pakistan, and Chalvey members did not dress in orange, a colour strongly linked with India.
The inevitable clash between the two gangs eventually took place in Chalvey.
A large-scale police presence prevented any deaths and more than 90 of the culprits were arrested.
Since then, the area has recovered and now only minor scuffles between two or three teenagers are reported to officers, but as EE discovered this week, that may not be the case for too long.
In The Crescent, the road where the worst of the 1997 fighting took place, we met 'Tiff', a 17-year-old who has devoted himself to the new generation of Chalvey Boyz.
Tiff said: "My best friend's brother was a Chalvey, he was there in 1997 and has told us all about what happened.
"We are ready to fight again, this battle has not finished and many of us want revenge."
This hunger for pay-back among younger boys in the area is a passion Mandeep Sira is fully aware of.
She is project manager for Aik Saath, a conflict resolution group set up in Slough immediately after the clashes.
The organisation has worked hard in schools and youth centres across the area to emphasise the message that racist clashes between Muslims and Sikhs are based on false views of each other's cultures.
According to Ms Sira, it has had a powerful effect, but the issue of hatred still remains between the two large communities, which combined make up nearly a quarter of Slough's 119,067-strong population.
She said: "The majority of Asian schoolchildren want to combat the image that all Muslims and Sikhs are in gangs and want to be violent, but tensions are still lurking.
"We know that the two gangs are not actively recruiting from schools like they were about a decade ago, but unfortunately, many of the older gang members are now trying to influence their younger siblings.
"It should be remembered that alongside the rivalry, drugs and low self-esteem have also played a part in the stand-off between the Sikh and Muslim community. They have to be tackled as well."
This will be harder for Aik Saath to do unless a source of funding is found soon. The group needs £80,000 to continue running next year and has so far failed to find a backer. In light of the rising tensions, it is no wonder project development worker Rob Deeks has described the current situation as "extremely serious".
Back in Chalvey, however, there is little sense among the local community that anything violent is about to erupt.
Malik Hussain, owner of travel agents Royal Travels, has lived in the district for more than 20 years. He said: "I was here in 1997 when the violence happened. It was terrifying and a worry for everybody.
"Thankfully, nothing like that has happened since and I do not think it will again. People of many races now work and live here together in peace."
Walking through The Crescent, only yards away from 'Tiff', Nasir Lodhi (pictured), 26, is also oblivious to any future feuds.
He said: "I have been living in Slough for a year and there has been no race violence in that time. It seems very safe here."
Determined to calm any tension which may erupt in the future, Slough Council has just launched the Slough Faith Partnership, a multi-agency group made up of Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Quaker community leaders. It will meet every three months to discuss issues within each community.
Rafiq Chohan, the council's head of equalities and economic development, said: "We have not taken our eye of the ball and become complacent. This is a diverse town and the different groups have different issues, so it is important we address them all.
"The violence of 1997 was partly down to the fact that unemployment among young people at that time was high and so many turned to violence. That is not so much the case now, but there are still definitely concerns."
most the shere e punjab were not gursikh so i think some of the ppl might get mad and say don't say their sikhs, but they were a really good group when it came to taking care of islamic extremists who targeted sikhs, have a group like them put together again and have the commuity and gurdwaras come together and help take care of their legal costs if the islamic extremists try charging them
most the shere e punjab were not gursikh so i think some of the ppl might get mad and say don't say their sikhs, but they were a really good group when it came to taking care of islamic extremists who targeted sikhs, have a group like them put together again and have the commuity and gurdwaras come together and help take care of their legal costs if the islamic extremists try charging them
most the shere e punjab were not gursikh so i think some of the ppl might get mad and say don't say their sikhs, but they were a really good group when it came to taking care of islamic extremists who targeted sikhs, have a group like them put together again and have the commuity and gurdwaras come together and help take care of their legal costs if the islamic extremists try charging them
