Father too late to save dying son in UK riots

Tarmiq Jahan holds a picture of his son Haroon Jahan after he was killed killed by a car along with two other men in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, central England August 10, 2011. REUTERS/Darren Staples

Tarmiq Jahan holds a picture of his son Haroon Jahan after he was killed killed by a car along with two other men in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, central England August 10, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Darren Staples

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LONDON | Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:05pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A father described Wednesday how he rushed to aid a dying man hit by a car during riots in the English city of Birmingham only to find it was his 21-year-old son.

"I heard the thud, ran around and I saw three people on the ground," Tariq Jahan told reporters.

"My instinct was to help the three people. I didn't know who they were, who'd been injured. I helped the first man, and somebody from behind told me my son was lying behind me.

"So I started CPR on my own son. My face was covered in blood, my hands were covered in blood."

Police launched a murder inquiry after all three Muslim men died. A 32-year-old man has since been arrested.

The men were part of a group of British Asians attempting to protect their area from looters after attending Ramadan prayers at a mosque, a friend of the men told BBC radio.

They acted after seeing gangs break into a petrol station and social club, and neighbors being beaten up, Jahan said.

Riots spread to England's second city Tuesday after three nights of violence in London.

"Why, why?," Jahan said. "I don't understand. We are here defending the community of all the problems that are going on in the country. He was trying to help his community."

He said his son, Haroon, a mechanic, was well-liked and well-known in the community.

"You lose your son, I can't describe to anyone what it feels like to lose your son," he said.

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Jodie Ginsberg and Robert Woodward)

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Comments (7)
LoboTX wrote:
God bless this man and his family, bring them some peace.

And Lord, while you’re at it – bring a rope. The hooligans who did this deserve some justice.

Aug 10, 2011 1:53pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
LeRuscino wrote:
Cameron has lost the plot wrongly bombing Gadaffi with UK dosh to help some rebels who are in reality very similar to the idiot thugs in UK rather than fixing the home front so things like this don’t happen.

Aug 10, 2011 2:21pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
RPhillips111 wrote:
Mr. Jahan was eloquent in expressing his grief, and his mystifiction at the killing of his son, who was only protecting his community has universal application. There are endless reasons for what is occurring in GB right now, and elsewhere too.

But part of the mix is certainly an american subculture which has captivated main stream international society the last decade or so. A subculture which is contemptuous of conventional social mores, formal learning, even accepted language. A subculture with promotes lawlessness, street “morality”, and sidwalk bullies. That subculture is Rap/hip hop music and the street “life” of large American urban powerty and drug ridden neighborhoods.

It has been sold through music, fashion, and politics, by the media, Rap singers as commentators, in the movies, and at schools and college
since that fateful day in the 1980s when an MTV music producer walked down the mean streets of the Bronyx, in New York City, and was captivated by the “street” perfomance and “life” he found there. He persuaded MTV to promote it, and corporate america helped sell Rap and Hip for really big profits.

What’s happening at the Wisconsin Fair, in Chicago at the beach, and throughout England’s urban centers are results of Rap and Hip Hop “kultur” and contempt at work.

Aug 10, 2011 3:54pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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