- guardian.co.uk, Monday July 2 2001 17.02 BST
The report by 12 organisations led by Liberty, the civil rights group, follows continued tension in two Lancashire towns over the weekend, with further petrol bomb attacks.
Other organisations include the Law Society, Amnesty International and the Bar Human Rights Committee.
The report says: "Negative presentation of asylum seekers has not only led to direct attacks on asylum seekers but also an underlying greater hostility towards all those from ethnic minority communities, and heightened racial tensions. In our view, the recent riots in Oldham and Bradford are to an extent directly linked to the above."
The police are accused of neglecting ethnic minority communities and of failing to act on the recommendations of the Macpherson report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence in south-east London.
Liberty has also criticised the government for its failure to prevent continued discrimin ation against people from ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system.
Trouble flared in Accrington on Friday night when there were several minor petrol bombings involving two white-owned businesses, a school and a car. Two Asian youths were allegedly seen running away from the burning vehicle.
In the early hours of Saturday an Asian family of seven escaped when they were petrol- bombed out of their home in Accrington as they slept. The family were asleep above a former newsagent's shop when a front window was forced open and petrol was poured through and set alight. The family have been rehoused.
Superintendent David Mallaby, of Lancashire police, described it as an appalling incident, in which an entire family could have been killed.
There was a petrol bomb attack on an Asian owned grocer's shop in Burnley early on Saturday. The shop was damaged but no one was injured. Two people were later arrested.
But Lancashire police said there were no major incidents on Saturday night, which has been a flashpoint for trouble in recent weeks. Police and community leaders had appealed for calm and there was a large police presence in Burnley and Accrington, with officers encouraging groups to move on.
The Burnley Labour MP Peter Pike said he had spoken to people who had voted for the British National party in last month's general election who now regretted it. He said they had wanted to kick the Labour party nationally and locally to face the problems that existed in the town. The BNP polled 11.2% of the vote in Burnley.
In an interview with Radio 4's Today programme at the weekend the BNP chairman, Nick Griffin, blamed the problems in Burnley on Asian thugs. He said: "There is fault on both sides of the community, but fundamentally the people treating people differently because of the colour of their skins are the Asian thugs, who for some years in places like Burnley have been winding this up by attacking white people."
Shahid Malik, of the Commission for Racial Equality, who was last week allegedly assaulted with a police riot shield, had refused to appear on the programme as he claimed it was giving oxygen to Mr Griffin's views.
