LEADERS of ethnic minorities in the North-East are appealing for calm after the World Trade Centre and Pentagon atrocities in the US.

Councillor Abdul Hamid, who represents the Westbourne ward on Middlesbrough Borough Council, Teesside, said it would be a tragedy if public reaction led to increased tension in areas with a good record in promoting community relations.

He said: "The members of the ethnic minority community in Middlesbrough are just as appalled as every other resident of the borough over the horror of September 11.

"Those who perpetrated these atrocities - under the banner of Islamic fundamentalism - should not in any way be bracketed with the views of our local Muslim community."

Fellow councillor Eddie Dryden said: "We shall remain totally committed to working with the local ethnic minority community and its leaders to ensure that those who brought death and destruction to New York and Washington do not succeed in putting citizen against citizen, neighbour against neighbour, in our own town.''

At the weekend, a mosque in South Shields was damaged by fire in a suspected racist attack, raising fears of a backlash against the Muslim community in the region.