Bradford should be deeply disturbed - but not surprised - by the latest outbreak of violence which occurred on the Ravenscliffe and Holme Wood estates last night. There is no doubt there was an element of copycat behaviour in what happened.

This time gangs of white youths turned on police, hurling bricks and bottles, as officers in riot gear attempted to quell the trouble.

But these two incidents also have far more worrying overtones. They appear to be some sort of revenge attack, a kind of retaliation against rioters who brought mayhem to the streets of Manningham at the weekend.

This time the city was witness to gangs of hot-headed white youths intent on orchestrating their own backlash against the damage caused by young Asian criminals at the weekend.

Community leaders and police have rightly called for calm by making repeated appeals for young people to stay off the streets and not get involved if trouble flares up.

No matter how angry people may feel because of the disgrace heaped on Bradford following the weekend's events, they must realise there is no purpose to be served by taking the law into their own hands.

The police have vowed to clamp down on any further outbreaks of violence and it is to their credit that the last two nights have seen only sporadic and relatively minor outbreaks of trouble.

The most important thing now is that the police are allowed to get on with their job of tracking down the perpetrators of Saturday's orgy of destruction while the city attempts to get back to something resembling normality.