The underlying crime and social problems which led to riots in the Lozells area of Birmingham two years' ago are still there, according to a new report. Two men were killed and dozens of people injured in the disturbances on 22 and 23 October 2005. The violent clashes between the Asian and African Caribbean communities were fuelled by false rumours that a young girl had been raped. The Lozells disturbances summary report commissioned by the equality and diversity division of Birmingham City Council on behalf of the Lozells Partnership Group, which will discuss its findings, warns: ‘There are no easy or tidy answers to a problem which, at an underlying level, has existed in and around Lozells for generations.' It says the Lozells and East Handsworth is the most overcrowded of all Birmingham wards with the highest proportion of ethnic minority groups (82.6%).
