AMID an uneasy calm in the aftermath of the weekend of alarming violence that has shocked East Lancashire, it is vital that the authorities and all sides of the community act swiftly and firmly to ensure there is no repeat or spread of the lawless disorder that rocked Burnley.

For it not just that the events are appalling -- a pub firebombed, shops wrecked and cars torched -- but that they give sustenance to a sinister, evil canker that our community does not want and, indeed, overwhelmingly rejects...racism.

It needs to be said and demonstrated here and now that East Lancashire is not a racially-divided community.

The events in Burnley at the weekend were an aberration that fly in the face of the good race relations that have generally prevailed during the two generations in which East Lancashire has become a multi-cultural and ethnically-diverse society.

And that status -- desired and accepted by the vast majority -- must not be allowed to be wrecked by a few hot-heads taking the law into their own hands or by evil extremists eager to foment and exploit conflict between whites and Asians.

That is why the emergency meeting called today by police, council chiefs and community leaders must be a major influence in the restoration of calm and the upholding of the good race relations that are the norm.

However, the weekend's events cannot simply be dismissed as a rogue departure from normality -- their causes must be thoroughly examined and resolved so that the tensions that provoke them are removed.

And in that analysis it is already clear that while no proof may yet exist of any direct involvement of the British National Party in the violence in Burnley, the 4,000 plus votes the party received in the council elections earlier this month -- when concerns over the highly-publicised racial conflict in Oldham were evidently played upon -- have been a catalyst for a similar flare-up in Burnley.

Voters may now reflect on what such separatism stirs up. Burnley and East Lancashire wants no more -- and it is time for the majority, Asian and white, to act and speak out for that.