Court proceedings have suggested that very few of the young people involved shared openly racist views. Judges were told youths saw the unrest as a social event
The footage played in court lasted only seconds. A 16-year-old boy, dressed all in black with his face covered, hurled a rock towards riot police from the steps of Bolton’s cenotaph. Around him people chanted: “Allah! Allah! Who the fuck is Allah?”
Little over two weeks later the teenager stood, bewildered, in the glass dock of Manchester youth court, with a conviction for violent disorder.
