Pic:Crowds gather for a protest after a young man was stabbed to death near his home in Mile End
Crime reporter(wp/es):
Crowds gathered to protest against knife crime in the capital after an aspiring artist was stabbed to death yards from his home in east London.
Syed Jamanoor Islam, 20, died in his mother’s arms after being attacked near his family home in Mile End last Tuesday.
His family, police officers, local councillors and anti-knife crime campaigners gathered in his memory at a rally in the nearby Altab Ali Park on Thursday.
Calls for justice for the 20-year-old’s family, and for community members to stand up against violent crime ran throughout the gathering.
Speaking at the protest, former independent candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets Cllr Rabina Khan said: “We all have a shared responsibility: A shared responsibility as parents, as community leaders, as politicians and as young people.
“If we do not share the responsibility of making sure we invest in our young children and to make sure that they have a brighter future it would be so unfair on the generation going forward.”
His family said the “quiet, humble and studious” young man was an innocent bystander to a row between two of his friends and another group of men in Wager Street.
Tower Hamlets Borough Commander Sue Williams, speaking at the rally, called for families to not be scared to check the bags of young family members for knives.
She said: “I was asked by the family about some of the challenges in dealing with knife crime, and really the number one challenge is the abundance of knives and how easy it is to get hold of them.
“It’s not about lock knifes, it’s about knives in your kitchen drawers. And this is about education from parents and families and friends to make sure that young people don’t take a knife when they leave the house.
“Don’t be afraid to check someone’s bag and see what they’re carrying. I check my young daughter’s.”
Speaking on Sunday, Syed Abdul Mukit, the father of Mr Islam, told of how the community needs to stand up against violence if these crimes are to stop.
He said: "We lost our first son in his mother's arms and no family ever wants to lose a child in that manner.
"It is about time we as community members stand up against violence, injustice and hate in the community.
"I am requesting each and every family in the country to address this important issue of the rise in crime in particular knife crime in our society."
A man and two teenage boys have been charged with Mr Islam's murder.
All three, Nayeem Chowdhury, 18, of Burdett Road, Poplar, a 17-year-old boy from Bow and another boy, 15, from Seven Kings, were charged on Monday.
Mr Islam died hours after the fatal stabbing of Abdullahi Tarabi, 19, and Rene Richardson, 24, on Monday, April 10, in a shocking day of knife crime in the capital.
Teenage footballer Mr Tarabi, 19, was stabbed to death after being chased into an alleyway in Northolt.
Mr Richardson, 24, collapsed and died outside his Plumstead home after being stabbed repeatedly in a quiet suburban street.
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