Altab Ali Day celebrated in East London

Muhammed Shahed Rahman : Altab Ali, a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement in the UK, was commemorated as Altab Ali Day in London on the anniversary of his death.

On Monday (May 4) at 6 pm, a brief ceremony was held at the Shaheed Minar premises in Altab Ali Park in East London, attended by community dignitaries, politicians, teachers, journalists, cultural activists, and researchers, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony and a tribute to Shaheed Altab Ali.

Later, a violin performance was held at the memorial service in the premises of Shaheed Minar.
Altab Ali Day was then celebrated in London with various events including exhibition viewings, receptions, performances, and film screenings at the Brady Arts Center.

A few words about Altab Ali :

Altab Ali is a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement in the UK. Altab Ali, 24, was murdered on Adler Street in London on May 4, 1978. He was a Bangladeshi garments worker living in the UK.

He migrated to the UK in search of employment in 1969. He worked in a garment factory in East London.
Who was killed in a racist attack in Whitechapel, London on May 4, 1978. His tragic death intensified the anti-racism movement in the UK and united Bangladeshi immigrants. In 1998, St. Mary’s Park in Whitechapel, London, was renamed Altab Ali Park in his honor.

Looking back at Altab Ali’s murder and some thoughts :

Altab Ali was murdered by racists on Adler Street, East London, on Thursday, May 4, 1978, at approximately 7:40 p.m. on his way home from work.

After his death, the Bengali community in London took to the streets to protest against racism. Along with the Bengalis, Africans and Asians living in London joined the protest. As a result, the movement took a serious shape within a short time.
The administration arrested the three killers of Altab Ali. After the trial, the court sentenced one of them to seven years in prison for stabbing and the other two to three years in prison each for aiding and abetting. Later, in 1998, St. Mary’s Park, where Altab Ali was murdered, was officially renamed Altab Ali Park as a tribute to Altab Ali. It was officially inaugurated by the then Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament, Humayun Rashid Chowdhury.

The arrival of immigrants from Bangladesh to the UK began in the early 1930s. The first immigration process began with people from the greater Sylhet region employed by British shipping companies. After World War II, due to a shortage of workers, the British government welcomed a large number of immigrants from its former colonies to the country. At that time, most of the immigrants from the greater Sylhet region to the UK were from the lower classes, but gradually people from other classes and professions migrated to the UK in search of education and jobs. Thus, a large community of people from the greater Sylhet region developed in the UK.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the activities of several radical white nationalist organizations began to increase alarmingly in various cities in the United Kingdom. These organizations were conducting various anti-immigrant activities, such as practicing hatred and racism. As a result, violent racist attacks on immigrants from different countries living in the United Kingdom increased. In one such violent racist attack, a Bengali immigrant named Altab Ali was killed on May 4, 1978, at the age of just 24.

Altab Ali was born in 1953 in Mollaata village of Sairadorgaon union of Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj district. Altab Ali was the eldest of seven children of father Haji Abdus Samad and mother Sonaban Bibi. Altab, who passed his matriculation in 1968 from Gobindaganj Bahumukhi High School, migrated to Bangladesh in 1969 with the help of his uncle Abdul Hashim, who was living in the UK, to help his family financially.

Altab worked in a garment factory in the UK. After staying there for about six years, he returned to Bangladesh in 1975 to visit his mother. Upon his return, he got married and returned to the UK again within six months.

On May 4, 1978, local government elections were scheduled for the Brick Lane area of ​​East London, a Bengali-speaking area of ​​the United Kingdom. Altab was returning home from work in a factory with a shopping bag in his hand. As soon as he reached St. Mary’s Park on Adler Street in London at around 7:40 pm, three teenage miscreants attacked him with knives. He fell down after being stabbed repeatedly.

The killing of Altab Ali in a racist attack sparked protests among migrants from various countries in the UK. Police later arrested Roy Arnold, Carl Ludlow and another teenager for their involvement in the incident. The three were aged between 16 and 17 years old.

The killers did not know Altab Ali. They committed this heinous murder based on racial hatred. The court framed charges against the three teenagers and later in January 1979, the court sentenced one of them to seven years in prison for the crime of stabbing and the other two to three years for the crime of aiding and abetting.

The death of Altab Ali sparked widespread protests in the Brick Lane area of ​​east London against rising racism and racist attacks on immigrants.