Scorched road still bears scars of disorder in Harehills - as councillor calls for answers one year on
A blackened patch of tarmac on Foundry Approach remains untouched - a grim scar still visible a year on from the night Harehills erupted into violent disorder.
It is the site where a burning double-decker bus stood as it was torched overnight, leaving behind a carcass of melted plastic and steel. By morning, only scorched metal remained, a reminder of how quickly tensions had spiralled into chaos.
The violence began at around 5pm on 18 July 2024, when West Yorkshire Police responded to a disturbance on Luxor Street. Crowds quickly gathered at the scene, with some filming officers and confronting them.
As tensions escalated, a police car was attacked - its windows smashed before being overturned in the street. Officers retreated at one point after being outnumbered. Meanwhile, videos of the disorder flooded social media, drawing national attention as the situation spilled into full-scale riot scenes.
For Coun Mothin Ali, who was on the ground in the east Leeds suburb, the stains on the road are a symbol of a community still in recovery.
“If we want to heal, we need to remove the scars,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“I’ve been trying to get the road resurfaced because you can still see the melted plastic and burn marks. But I’m told that because the plan for city roads has already been made, there’s not a budget for the work.”
In the immediate aftermath of the violence, video footage circulated widely online showed Coun Ali attempting to calm the crowd - at one point stepping in to stop people from throwing wheelie bins onto the fire.
He was clear about the social factors that can lead to disorder on the scale seen last summer: “There are issues around poverty in Harehills. The lack of resources can leave people feeling trapped and make it difficult for them to integrate fully into society. That’s an issue that I feel isn’t being met.
“A point that I would really like to emphasise is the fact that the council was supposed to publish a report into what happened - but, despite asking executive members about this, I've been fobbed off.”
In the days after the disorder, Coun Ali, 43, organised an event called ‘A City of Belonging’ at St Aidan’s Church, which brought together 50 residents from various backgrounds “in a safe and honest space”.
That led to the first Unity Day, a large-scale event organised by the Green Party councillor in October that saw up to 1,000 people in attendance with the emergency services, charities, and businesses. It’s an event he’d like to see happen again, but conceded that a lack of funding has hampered efforts.
“We’ve had meetings about community cohesion,” he said, “but the issue is always funding - it can be difficult to get any event going.”
For his actions on the night, Coun Ali was praised by many commentators with one national paper describing him as a “hero”. But in the weeks that followed, a darker narrative emerged online.
“I was accused of rioting myself - and that resulted in lots of threatening emails and social media posts,” he said. “Someone even turned up at my house and slashed my tyres. It was a very scary time for my family. I’ve had to install CCTV.
“There were certain people on the right who tried to portray the rioting as a problem with immigration, Muslims and brown people. But the real issues are structural ones - like the lack of opportunities and poor quality housing. The young people who were involved that night should have been doing something that kept them away, but there wasn’t anything.”
Despite the challenges, Coun Ali said he hopes to continue engaging with the community through events similar to those he has organised previously. When asked what should happen next, he remained adamant: “The council report really needs to come out.”
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We’ve continued our proactive work with partners and communities in Harehills and across the city in the past year, with some new initiatives alongside our longstanding projects and regular community events. These bring people together from diverse backgrounds and make a significant contribution to community cohesion in Harehills.
“The CommUnity Harehills Partnership, chaired by local ward Councillor Salma Arif, has set up five action groups to develop positive work programmes around issues including community voice, health and wellbeing, children and young people, place and space, and community safety. Involving around 50 active partners, these groups represent all sections of the community so that no groups are excluded from playing a part in their local community and how it is shaped.”