Now we know what happened next, the words of speakers at Saturday's anti-Nazi rally seem nave. Their faith in Bradford's ability to turn the other cheek proved to be unfounded.

One after another they took the megaphone to beg people in the crowd not to react to provocation by racist agitators.

But a few short hours later it appeared the National Front strategy had gone perfectly to plan.

Millions of TV viewers were being treated to the sight of Asians attacking police, and their own community's cars and businesses.

And there were no neo-Nazis to be seen.

There had been rumours of a visit by up to 50 supporters of the racist National Front.

Although the authorities won a banning order from Home Secretary David Blunkett that outlawed the march, it was feared they would turn up anyway.

Anti-fascists in Bradford - many of them with memories of similar battles in the 1970s - were determined to put on a show of strength and a united white/Asian front.

The Anti-Nazi League rally in Centenary Square was earnest, multi-cultural and peaceful.

There were fewer people there than expected - around 200 - and a mixture of white, black and Asian. There were babies in pushchairs and 77-year-old Holocaust survivor Richard Fairfax, who insisted on coming with his daughter Diane, a former Bradford councillor.

"It's important to have a large presence to show opposition to Nazism," he said. Both of his parents died in Nazi concentration camps: he was one of a group of Jewish children evacuated to safety in Britain in 1938. His daughter said: "He's partially sighted and has had a quadruple heart bypass, but he rang me and asked when the meeting was."

MPs pleaded with people not to fall into the trap set by the National Front, by responding violently to provocation.

Marsha Singh MP said: "Don't be tempted into violence to Bradford people, Bradford property, Bradford cars - all we do then is damage ourselves. They want to divide Bradford. We have to let them know we're not going to hate each other because of them."

Speeches weren't going to keep the growing crowd interested forever, and there was nothing else to do.

Bored and restless Asian teenagers wanted to quit the square and go into the city centre - presumably to hunt for Nazis. The police weren't having any of it.

Ateeq Siddique, ANL member, claimed: "If police hadn't cancelled the Bradford Festival today, there'd be some music for these young people."

Rumours were being flying around feverishly - the Nazis were marching in Keighley, they were gathering in the Queens pub, they were at Pudsey railway station - and every other person was on a mobile phone.

A surge by Asian youngsters towards the other side of the square dissolved into giggles when it transpired that the dodgy-looking white blokes who had turned up were not 'the enemy' - but members of Anti Fascist Action.

But it was a sign of growing tension and impatience among the crowd.

Councillor Ian Greenwood, leader of the Labour group on Bradford Council, believed police were over the top in their treatment of the demonstrators, and told youths "police haven't done a particularly good job." But he urged them to stay calm "because we don't want people being arrested on this side of the cordon." He was heckled by a lad shouting "We don't want politicians."

Mohammed Amran, Bradford's youthful member of the Commission for Racial Equality, and a well known figure, received a cheer when he took over the megaphone. "The National Front wants us to fight the police, it's important we stay calm," he said. One of the cheekier lads made a joke about looting - shouting out "Yes - we can do some free shopping later!" Everyone howled with laughter - it was a bit boisterous but there was a good atmosphere.

Youth workers - older Asian men in their 20s - did a good job of pacifying the more excitable teenagers and acting as a buffer between them and police.

By 4pm the rally was definitely winding down and police were withdrawing.

It was a big shock when - from nowhere - the crowd split and youths sprinted across Bridge Street and towards narrow, pedestrianised Ivegate. They'd heard reports of a race attack outside a bar.

Police, caught unawares, responded by charging through the centre on police horses, scattering protesters and shoppers alike.

A terrified-looking pensioner took shelter in a phone box, passers-by were screaming, and one Asian youth stumbled and was trampled by one of the horses. It was lucky there weren't more casualties in the utter chaos.

Demonstrators angrily questioned why neo-Nazis had been allowed by police to gather in Addison's bar in Ivegate, from where, they claimed, one of them launched a race attack on an Asian man.

Soon after there were reports of a vicious stabbing of a white man in Sunbridge Road and the atmosphere of the day had changed irrevocably.

The Ivegate attack gave the demonstrators a focus, something to be angry about - and the attitude of the police hardened too.

A large group of protesters were pressed back by police out of town and up Westgate towards Manningham.

Meanwhile another stand-off developed at 5.30pm outside St George's Hall, with gangs of anti-fascists and police charging at each other across the road.

The air of unreality was deepened by the fact that for some, life continued as normal, while others were engaged in a running battle.

Buses and cars were allowed to drive in-between the warring factions and a bewildered man struggling with heaving carrier bags from Morrisons wandered through the middle.

A teenager with a Pakistan flag wrapped around his shoulders danced provocatively in the street, taunting officers. Missiles were being pelted across the road and a lobbed brick connected with one of the riot police, raising a cheer. The National Front were long gone - no-one was even talking about them any more - and the confrontation was taking shape as Asian youths v. Police.