Preston’s Bangladeshi community has held a vigil on the city’s Flag Market to highlight student protests and deaths in Dhaka.

Around 20 people from across the city and the surrounding area joined on Thursday (18 July) evening.

Their peaceful solidarity event took place as more than 30 students are said to have died in protests which have spread throughout the Bangladesh capital and across universities and schools elsewhere in the South Asian country.

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Dr Mohammed Moinuddin, a University of Central Lancashire biostatistics lecturer and former student at Jahangirnagar University, condemned the recent events in Bangladesh as he attended the vigil.

He said: “Our students deserve a future free from violence and fear. I urge the Bangladeshi government to listen to these students’ voices and engage in meaningful dialogue to resolve the ongoing crisis. I also call upon Bangladeshi expatriates worldwide to raise their voices against the injustices faced by students back home.”

The Preston gathering saw speeches made and placards held to highlight the protests which centre on the government refusing to scrap a job quota for families of the veterans country’s independence war in 1971.

The protest group in Preston said the protests in Bangladesh also highlight wider problems with ‘police violence and government repression’.

A Preston GP, Dr Faheem Shakur, who joined the protest on the Flag Market said: “Our demonstration is to urge the government to immediately stop the killing and police brutality. We are also demanding quota reform and justice in the public service system.”

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