আলতাব আলী

Altab Ali was a 25-year-old Bangladeshi textile worker from Sylhet, murdered in a racist attack on Adler Street, Whitechapel, on the evening of 4 May 1978 as he walked home from work. His killing , one of many racist attacks that had terrorised the community for years , became the moment East London's Bengali community decided enough was enough. Ten days later, 7,000 people marched from Brick Lane to Hyde Park carrying his coffin, delivering a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for police protection and an end to racial violence. It was one of the largest anti-racist demonstrations Britain had seen. In 1998, St Mary's Park in Whitechapel was renamed Altab Ali Park in his memory, and a Shaheed Minar , a monument to martyrs, modelled on the one in Dhaka , stands in the park in his honour. His name is inseparable from the story of how a community reclaimed its right to live without fear.