A COMMUNITY and a city stood as one to pay respects to the three men killed in the Birmingham riots.
Organisers estimated 25,000 people crammed into Summerfield Park, Winson Green, on Thursday for the funerals of brothers Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir and their friend Haroon Jahan.
Thousands more lined streets around the park and the scene in nearby Dudley Road where the men, described as martyrs, died as they protected property at the height of the disorder last week.
Haroon’s father Tariq Jahan, widely credited with putting an end to the riots in Birmingham and beyond through his calls for calm, was one of several people who spoke at the funeral from a stage.
“Thanks to all the brothers and sisters I see here,” he said. “This has nothing to do with me.
“If you remember them, I thank you ever so much.”
The coffins of the men were slowly brought into the park by a procession of three black hearses.
They were carried to a marquee where members of the immediate families gathered for the Janazah Salah funeral prayer.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, delivered a short speech after the prayer.
He said: “I came here on behalf of the people of Pakistan, to pass on our condolences at the deaths of the three boys who gave their lives to protect us all.”
The public service had begun with prayers amplified across the park through a series of speakers.
Shaykh Muhammed Al Yaqoubi then made an address in which he called for a national day to be held to forever mark the men’s sacrifices.
He added: “We are not here to show our sorrow or sadness.
“We can be sad and sorry when such innocent lives are lost for no cause.
“But when the cause for which they sacrificed is so great, it shows to us that these men opened up a new way for Muslims in the UK.
“Writers write with ink on pages to advocate Islam.
“But these three martyrs wrote with their blood on the annals of history.”
Several roads close to the park were sealed off to allow the hearses to safely pass through the crowds on the way to Handsworth Cemetery where a private burial ceremony was held for close family and friends.
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