14 Aug: "We must come together and ensure some good comes out of all this senselessness.”

Photo from the article, linked at the end of the post.

"When Tariq was announced to the crowd, they applauded and chanted for over a minute. Modestly he told them: 'I am no one special. Just one of you.

'I’m no speechmaker. I don’t really know what to say but to see this coming together gives me strength in my heart. Forget about me. It’s about the three young men who have sacrificed their lives for this community. I hope you remember them.'"

On the Sunday following the riots, various community groups worked together to quickly organize a peace rally in Birmingham.  The intention was to help strengthen the city, make a show of solidarity as a community and to pay homage to the three men murdered during the riots.

The father of one of the victims, Tariq Jahan, as well as a brother of the two others killed spoke along with community leaders both civic and religious but it was Tariq who served as a lighthouse of peace, for his plea for calm in the wake of his son's death is credited as being the greatest reason that the riots finally ended.

"The audience stood hanging on his every word, many clearly made emotional by his strength and humility in the face of such a terrible loss."

Read more from the Mirror article here.