Somali Voice Office in Bristol Attacked

[Jacaylbaro]

Racists may have started fire at Bristol office

 

The offices of a newspaper serving Bristol's Somali community have been devastated in what is thought to have been a racially-motivated arson attack.

 

The Somali Voice base on Stapleton Road, Easton, was set alight in the early hours of Wednesday and the voluntary organisation's two computers, desks, chairs and paperwork were destroyed.

Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused in what investigators believe was a malicious attack on the bilingual, monthly publication set up to help the Somali community in Bristol.

 

The offices were also home to the Easton Advice and Advocacy Centre, which was also damaged.

Somali Voice editor Kayse Maxamed said: "It's very sad and very, very difficult for the community because a lot of people come here for help.

 

"There has been a lot of damage. We are all volunteers, we do not get funding, and have been renting the office for about three months.

"We've been trying our best to help the community and a lot of people are very upset about what has happened. But we are determined to carry on."

Mr Maxamed said the newspaper had been the victim of some hostility recently.

 

No decision has yet been made on where the paper will be made in the future and staff will try their best to get July's edition out on the streets.

 

"I'd appeal for the community to contact the police if they know who may have done this or if they saw anything suspicious," he said. "This has not only damaged the Somali Voice, but the whole community."

 

The Somali Voice is a free publication. It has a website, www.thesomalivoice.c o.uk, and aims to "provide a voice that represents Somali communities in the UK and bridges the gap between governmental, non-governmental agencies and Somali communities across the country".

 

Two fire appliances from Temple fire station extinguished the fire after a call at 2am yesterday. Throughout the day fire investigators and scenes of crime police officers looked for a possible cause.

 

Avon and Somerset police spokesman Simon Whitby said: "I can confirm we are looking into the possibility that this incident was racially motivated.

 

"The fire was started deliberately and we would ask anyone who

[Jacaylbaro]

Arson attack on the Somali Voice

 

Very depressing news about the torching of the Somali Voice office in Easton, and some fundamentally depressing comments on the BEP site too - and I suspect they've deleted some of the worst. Kayse, the editor of Somali Voice, is someone I know well and like very much. He has put in a huge amount of effort over the years to the paper and the website, as well as holding down a full-time job in the NHS, and it's so sad to see this all go up in smoke. I hope he can pull together the resources to keep going.

 

The bulk of the comments are along the lines of accusing Kayse of 'playing the race card', and saying there's no evidence it's a racist attack. Well it's actually the police who have suggested it might be, and it's common sense to suspect that would be a distinct possibility. It could be kids messing around as arson attacks often are; it could be an individual with a particular grievance; it could be white racists....We simply don't know yet. There have been tensions between Jamaicans and young Somalis in the area - in which case does that make it racist, or is it more about which gang you belong to, which happen to be delineated along racial lines? Or even just about turf wars, over drug dealing territory?

 

The Somali Voice is of course nothing to do with this, and I've had many a conversation with Kayse and other Somali community activists about what can be done to prevent disaffected Somali youths being drawn into that kind of street culture. (As I have done with people from the wider Muslim community, and in schools too with kids from all backgrounds).

 

As a footnote to the person who asks why there are so many Somalis in Bristol, as it was never part of the British Empire. Somaliland was a British colony. (Somalia was Italian). Many Somalis fought in the British army, and are very proud of their British links.

[Jacaylbaro]

A firebomb attack has caused extensive damage to the offices of The Somali Voice newspaper in Bristol

 

The attack was made on the newspaper's Stapleton Road base in Easton, in the early hours of Thursday, an Avon and Somerset police spokesman said.

 

He said the force were treating the incident as a possibly racially-motivated attack.

 

A spokesman for an anti-racist group said the building had already had the word "die" scrawled on to its shutters.

 

There are around 20,000 Somalis living in Bristol, up from 4,000 seven years ago.

 

 

'Wonderful resource'

 

In 2007 several Somali women living in the Hillfields area of the city were subjected to racist attacks and had stones thrown at them.

 

Batook Pandya of Support Against Racist incidents (SARI) told BBC News Online he was appalled by the attack.

 

"It's quite complex. I think the issue is that it could be a racist attack and in this case whether it's because of race or because it's the patch I don't know," he said.

 

"There was some graffiti with the word 'die' on the shutters there already.

 

"It is a shame because it is a wonderful resource and people could have used this for the community cohesion that we need in Bristol.

 

"They were funding everything from their own pockets."

 

Police want any witnesses or anyone with information about the incident to contact them.

[Herer]

Since he was working as a voluanteer to better up Somali community in Bristol, Allah (SWT) ha ku bedelo mid barako iyo khayr badan leh.Dhiibtana Ilaahi ha ka yeerayo...

[Jacaylbaro]

yeah, i'm sure they will soon recover from this criminal act.

 

Still wondering why this office ? ,,,