ANGER in Birmingham's Asian community has led to community leaders calling for calm after three men were run over by suspected rioters.
Haroon Chohan, 21 and brothers Shazad and Munir Hussein, 32 and 30, were rammed by a car today and killed after trying to protect their neighborhood from rioters.
They were among some 80 men who turned out after a gang tried to ransack the nearby Jet petrol station on Monday night.
West Midlands police arrested a man near the scene and recovered a vehicle, which forensics experts are examining. They later launched a murder inquiry.
Groups of residents in Winson Green, the inner-city area of Birmingham warned of inter-communal violence if the murder inquiry fails to produce rapid results.
The city has seen episodes of large-scale disorder and looting over the past two nights which seems to have brought neighbourhoods together.
The shock of the deaths has created a tense community, prompting community and religious leaders and Shabana Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Ladywood, to call for calm.
They all attended a meeting at Dudley Road mosque.
Andrew Watson, the Bishop of Aston, attended the community meeting along with other clergy.
He said there was resentment with the community at what had happened but appealed to people not to react.
"I'd say don't do anything in the memories of three impressive young men," he said.
"Trust that the police will get to the bottom of it.
“We've heard people talk about taking matters into their own hands and we're appealing for calm.”
"Violence just leads to more violence.
"We also spoke about it being Ramadan, a holy time.
"We hope the meeting helped and it was good of the MP to act quickly to speak to the community."
Haroon's father Jahan joined appeals for calm, holding a photograph of his son in the doorway of his home at Winson Green.
He said: "He was trying to help his community and he has been killed.
"He was a very well-liked kid. I can't describe to anybody what it feels like to lose a son. He was the youngest of three, and anything I ever wanted done, I would always ask Haroon to sort it out for me.
"A day from now, maybe two days from now, the whole world will forget and nobody will care."
He added: "I don't blame the government, I don't blame the police, I don't blame nobody. It was his destiny and his fate, and now he's gone."
Sobia Nazia, a cousin to the brothers, said: "They were brothers to everybody. They used to look out for everyone. They were heroes. I heard people describing them on Facebook as brothers to one and all.
"People who only just knew of them haven't slept all night. It's made a huge impact, more than we thought."
