ONE MAN was killed after violence flared in Birmingham last night following a week of racial tension after it was claimed a 14-year-old Jamaican girl had been raped by an Asian gang.

Hundreds of youths ran through the streets of the Lozells area of the city attacking motorists and lines of riot police after a meeting between police and community leaders.

Tension was high after rumours circulated that the girl had been attacked by 19 Asian men but had not gone to police because she is in Britain illegally and feared deportation.

The meeting was intended to reassure the black community and appeal for the girl to come forward. But it is understood a gang of up to 30 Asian youths began throwing stones at some of the 300 people attending the meeting in a church.

Violence then broke out with bricks and bottles thrown at a line of riot police. Cars were set on fire, an ambulance was attacked and shop windows smashed as youths wielding baseball bats ran amok. The dead man, black and in his twenties, was stabbed to death.

Three men were arrested and at least a further 10 were taken to hospital, three suffering from stab wounds and two, including a policeman, having been shot with a ball-bearing gun.

A woman reporter, Alex Thompson, described being attacked in her car: “They were a large group, more than 100 hooded youths with baseball bats running through the streets. They hit my car with the bats and kicked it. They also attacked other motorists.”

India Murray, landlady of the Union Inn in Gerrard Street, said the violence began at 6pm and the pub’s windows were smashed. She locked herself and her customers inside. “Whoever is here is in here because there are no taxis coming, so they can’t leave,” she said.

The area is close to where Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were shot dead outside a kebab shop in January 2003.

The 1985 Handsworth riots, along Lozells Road, were sparked by the arrest of a black man after a police stop and search.

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