A thousand expected for martyrs day tomorrow
BANGLADESHI East Enders will gather to remember those who gave their lives to defend the Bengali language more than 50 years ago tomorrow.
Altab Ali Park in Whitechapel Road will be filled with people paying their respects to those who laid down their lives to protect their right to freedom.
More than a thousand are expected to gather for the midnight ceremony by the Shaheed Minar monument.
On 21st February1952, dozens of students and political activists were killed when police opened fire on protesters in East Pakistan, which later achieved independence as Bangladesh.
The demonstrators were marching to demand equal status for their native tongue, Bengali, after the government tried to impose Urdu on them despite it being a minority language in East Pakistan.
Bengali is now recognised by the United Nations as an international mother language.
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