[danielf]

Originally Posted by Sirius

why the hell has race been brought up in this case. They have commited a crime and that's it.

From the article:

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of of the Ramadhan Foundation, accused Pakistani community elders of "burying their heads in the sand" on the issue of on-street grooming.

"There is a significant problem for the British Pakistani community," he said.

"There should be no silence in addressing the issue of race as this is central to the actions of these criminals.

"They think that white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused without a second thought; it is this sort of behaviour that is bringing shame on our community."

But Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) denied that the ethnicity of either the defendants or the victims was a factor.

"It is not a racial issue," he said. "This is about adults preying on vulnerable young children.

"It just happens that in this particular area and time the demographics were that these were Asian men."