Remembering The Daneshouse Dust-UpThe recent call by the leader of Burnley's Lib-Dems, Roger Frost, for Liberal Democrats in the town to vote Labour, went down like a lead weight in one particular Burnley ward. Lib-Dems in Daneshouse would probably rather vote BNP than Labour because of painful memories of the 6th May 1999. That was the night 200 Labour Party thugs attacked Liberal Democrats celebrating a famous victory. It was the most fiercely contested seat in East Lancashire and it was retained by Liberal Democrat Mozaquir Ali by a majority of 216 votes, after a bitter, controversal and often violent campaign. Councillor Ali had threatened to take legal advice if he had lost to Labour's Saeed Akhtar Chaudhary after claiming council officials had given him the wrong advice about proxy votes, which were declared invalid. The Daneshouse poll attracted a record 70% vote, nearly three times that of any other ward in Burnley where the average turnout was barely 25%. Mozaquir Ali said: "The council mistake lost me 200 votes but we still came to the right result. This was a protest against Labour for robbing the area of money." But while the Lib-Dems were celebrating their narrow victory, disgruntled Labour supporters amassed in Abel Road. Suddenly there were rumours that a car had tried to run over their candidate. In an instant the crowd became a frenzied mob marching on the Lib-Dems headquarters in Daneshouse Road. Mayhem broke out with 300 Lib-Dem and Labour activists slugging it out in the street for 20 minutes before police swarmed into the area, blocking roads and separating the battling sides. Community leaders called for calm as sporadic violence continued between groups of people on foot and in cars. Police were still patrolling the area in vehicles at 2.30am. Mozaquir Ali bravely claimed in his victory speech that no Labour seat was now safe after the Lib-Dems increased their share of the vote across the borough. Now, thirty months on, there won't be a safe Lib-Dems seat in Burnley if Roger Frost keeps on telling Liberal Democrat voters to support Labour!
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