A STREET fight between gangs of rival youths has led to calls for urgent progress on a peace garden in Brierfield -- more than a year after the plans were revealed.

A large group of youths were involved in the disturbance outside Mansfield High School, Manchester Road, after a multi-cultural evening. And as police tried to break up the fighting an officer was injured.

Calls for the garden were originally made in a bid to unite the community after the death of Shahbaz Arshad, 21, of Woodfield Terrace, Brierfield, who was attacked and killed in a back alley.

The plan for the land owned by Pendle Council is supported by Groundwork and Lancashire County Council, and is due to be considered at a meeting of Pendle Council's Brierfield and Reedley committee on Tuesday.

Today Len Dole, the former chairman of Co-operative Retail Services Lancashire regional committee, which has a store in Brierfield, and who helped raise £1,000 for the garden over a year ago, said: "As far as I'm concerned I thought it would have been built by now. The reason we gave the money was because we though the garden would bring about some unity between the community itself and peace between rival gangs.

"The garden does need to get a move on there's no question about that. The young lad's death was created through fighting and it needs to be stopped.

"If somebody doesn't do something soon then it's going to go on and on and the money will be thrown up against the wall and that's not fair on the organisations that were willing to assist with the problems."

Peter Dixon, headteacher at Mansfield High, today condemned the violence that erupted outside his school on Wednesday night and said it had tarred a very successful evening. And he supported the move for a Peace Garden which was the idea of youngsters attending the town's youth centre.

He said: "Within the community itself there are racial tensions and at Mansfield we feel we are doing very positive things to try and build bridges between various cultures. Obviously this incident outside the school is extremely disppointing.

"We would support the Peace Garden 100 per cent along with any other project in the local community which will quickly ensure there is a harmonious relationship between the young people."

Pupils at the Elland Road school, in Brierfield, had just held a mulicultural celebration evening when a street fight broke out at about 9.20pm.

Mr Dixon said the fighting had ruined the evening which was supposed to develop community relations.

He said: "The evening was a multi cultural event to celebrate cultures around the world.

"There was poetry, dance and music chosen and performed by pupils at the school.

"It was something they had worked hard towards for the last six weeks. It was supposed to be an evening that developed community links but this has been abused by these people who used the occasion to cause a very unpleasant incident.

"The evening had been amazingly successful.

"Unfortunately it was tarred by this nonsense that erupted afterwards. I am very disappointed because we had had such a successful night."

Mr Dixon said the fighting had not spilled into the school grounds and said no pupils or staff at the school had been involved in the fighting in any way.

Detective Constable John Wright said: "It was a minor street distrubance that resulted in an officer suffering a broken nose. It was an isolated incident."

One person has been arrested and charged with assault.