Scotland Yard report sets off racial furor

Scotland Yard touched off a racial furor with a report blaming more than half of all London's muggings last year on the relatively small number of nonwhites.

The report, the yard's first racial breakdown of street crimes, is based on the descriptions victims gave of their attackers.

After riots in the south London district of Brixton last year, critics accused the police of provoking the trouble by harassing young blacks. The rules under which the police can stop and question suspects have since been tightened. The head of the policemen's union says a sharp rise in street crime last year resulted from the new constraints.