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Altab Ali
‐
A textile worker whose murder in 1978 sparked anti-racist protests in east London
Place of birth
Date of arrival to Britain
Location(s)
Whitechapel
London
United Kingdom Altab Ali Park
Whitechapel
London
United Kingdom
Place of death
Adler Street, Whitechapel, London
Date of time spent in Britain
1968–78
About
Altab Ali originally arrived in the UK in 1968, accompanied by his uncle. After returning to Bangladesh to get married in 1975, he worked in the textile trade in the Brick Lane area of east London. In 1978, when walking home from work, he was attacked by three teenagers in Adler Street by St Mary's Park. He was taken to the Royal London Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Ali's racially motivated murder sparked protests in east London. Ten days after his death, protesters marched across central London to Downing Street, carrying his coffin. This led to a summer of mobilization against the National Front, known as the Battle of Brick Lane. A memorial arch, built in 1989, marks the site of Ali's death, and in 1998 the adjacent park was renamed Altab Ali Park.
Altab Ali Foundation website, altabalifoundation.org.uk
‘Altab Ali and the Fight for Equality’, Tower Hamlets Council website, https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/Arts_events_and_information/Altab_Ali_and_The_Fight_for_Equality.aspx
Swadhinata Trust archive, Bishopsgate Institute, London
Image credit
Altab Ali, by Alice Sielle. P/SIE and Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives.
