Bengali Muslim migration had reached its peak during the 1970s with the influx of people coming from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. Many Bangladeshis became subject to the brutal, racial attacks carried out by 'skinhead' groups. On the 4th of May 1978, a young man aged 25 years old named Altab Ali was brutally stabbed and murdered in a vicious racial attack which sparked a chain of reactions from the Bangladeshi migrants of the UK to take a stand against the prejudices they faced in their everyday lives.

Altab Ali's tragic death influenced thousands of people to protest with 7000 Bangladeshis marching to Downing Street and Hyde Park chanting "Who killed Altab Ali?" and replying "Racism, racism".

It led to the mobilisation of more youth organisations and community groups such as the Bangladesh Youth Movement (BYM) and even today, his death has effected the way in which the Bangladeshi community in the East End today view themselves. Altab Ali's murder is significant in understanding the history of the Bangladeshi migrant community from the 1970s onwards.