'Pathetic' response to race task force meeting

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Football fails to kick racist tag, says study

Only twenty people attended the first public meeting of a task force set up after racial violence in Burnley, Lancashire, at the end of June.

The meeting, which was advertised widely in the town this month, was called by Burnley Borough Council, which had set up an action committee to help prevent further rioting between the white and Asian communities.

Church and community leaders, councillors, police and young people were encouraged to take part in discussions. But the turn-out was described as "pathetic" by one person who attended the gathering at Burnley Town Hall on Thursday.

Those who did take part raised concerns over segregation in schools and expressed resentment over the distribution of grants in the town. Others blamed independent councillors for giving support to the British National Party. Lord Clarke of Hampstead, who chairs the task force, has said he is ready to meet the BNP, which got 12 per cent of the town's vote in the general election.