Altab Ali
Bangladeshi worker murdered in a racially motivated killing in the United Kingdom
Altab Ali (Bengali: আলতাব আলী; 24 October 1953 – 4 May 1978) was a Bangladeshi textile worker stabbed to death in London, in a racially motivated killing. His death sparked widespread outrage and grassroots action that helped to reduce racism against British Bangladeshis and British Asians in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Ali flew from East Pakistan to London Heathrow Airport on transit to Moseley in Birmingham on 23 August 1968 with his uncle, Abdul Hashim. In 1975, he returned to Bangladesh to be married. At the time of his death, Ali was 24 and worked as a textile worker in an area off Brick Lane.
Death
On 4 May 1978, a day when local elections were being held, Ali was stabbed in Adler Street, adjacent to the open space then known as St Mary's Park. He was attacked by three teenagers: Roy Arnold and Carl Ludlow were both 17 years old, the third boy was of mixed race, 16 years old and named by his surname in March 2020 as part of the Freedom of Information. He was declared dead on arrival at the Royal London Hospital. The BBC reported the murder as racially motivated and random.
Legacy
Ali's death sparked protests within the area.
The public source identifies “Altab Ali” as bangladeshi worker murdered in a racially motivated killing in the United Kingdom. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Altab, Bangladeshi and worker.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19735965. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1978, 1968 and 1975.
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This entry incorporates text from “Altab Ali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.