Statement by Tariq Mehmood Ali to West Yorkshire Police, 31.7.81:

‘In view of what had recently happened in Southall, London and other areas where black families had been petrol bombed and murdered. Where black youth as in Depford had been kicked to death, we took the news that coach loads of skinhead thugs were coming to Bradford very seriously. Many people in Bradford of all walks of life were openly talking that this was so. …It is my belief that when a people are attacked it is their right to act in self-defence. The nature of that defence depends upon the nature of attack and attackers… the defence of black people or all workers and people who are threatened by the menace of fascism necessitates the forming of defensive organisations; it was with this in mind that we did what we did.’