Whose country is it anyway?

A disturbing report from the neighbouring parish to my former parish:

THE CANCELLATION of a St George’s Day procession of 2000 children in Bradford angered community leaders and left schools disappointed this week. The Vicar of Girlington, the Revd Tony Tooby, described the decision by the council and West Yorkshire police as “a sad day for the city”.

The event had been suggested in November 2007 by the Neighbourhood Policing Team. The children would have walked a two-mile route that included two streets in Manningham where rioting took place in 2001.

A week before the event was to take place, it was abruptly cancelled on the grounds of “health and safety”. Mr Tooby, who is chairman of governors at St Philip’s C of E Primary School, said on Tuesday: “They offered us an alternative route, which was just one street to march down, and made a grudging offer of 1 July as an alternative date.”

He said that the children at the school — which has a 99-per-cent Muslim intake — had been making flags and dragons, and had been excited at the prospect of the parade. The communities had embraced the emphasis on being Bradfordians.

Fears about the activities of far-Right parties in the run-up to local elections on 1 May are believed to underpin the decision, but Bradford Council and the police insist that the concern was health and safety. “It’s amazing: the idea of walking for peace on St George’s Day was put forward by the police themselves,” Mr Tooby said.

“It was to have been young people, of all faiths, walking together for unity and learning from past mistakes, which were the riots. Denying they happened, or saying that someone might want to cause trouble again, is not moving us on. The young people are those who will take Bradford further into the future. We don’t want these children to be the next generation picking up the bricks.”

Bradford is used to processions: the Sikh community held a four-hour parade through the city on 14 April in celebration of the annual Vaisakhi festival. The churches’ annual Whit Walks are also a feature of many towns and cities in the north-west.

“People have been very supportive. Everyone’s talking about this on the streets, and it would be very sad if the police and council were not listening,” Mr Tooby said.