2001 Oldham riots

The Oldham riots were a brief period of violent rioting which occurred in Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester, England, in May 2001. They were ethnically-motivated riots and the worst riots in the United Kingdom since 1985 (the riots in 1985 were about the Poll Tax and were not ethnically motivated).

The Oldham riots were the first of a series of major riots during summer 2001, which saw similar ethnic conflicts follow in Bradford, Leeds and Burnley. They followed a long period of ethnic tensions and attacks in Oldham, occurring particularly between groups of the local white and South Asian communities.

The most violent rioting occurred in the Glodwick area of the town, a multi-ethnic district of Oldham and home to a large community of British Pakistanis.