Gurdip Singh Chaggar Murdered (1976)

Fri Jun 04, 1976

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Image: A Southall Youth Movement protest in the street. A large sign reads “SOUTHALL YOUTH MOVEMENT REMEMBERS BLAIR PEACH AND GURDID [sic] SINGH CHAGGAR” Monitoring Group

On this day in 1976, Gurdip Singh Chaggar, an 18-year old engineering student, was stabbed to death by fascists in Southall, London, leading to mass protests and the formation of the anti-fascist Southall Youth Movement (SYM).

The murder was unprovoked and committed by a gang of white youths. The following day, thousands of protesters surrounded the police station and gave speeches, leading to the formation of the SYM.

According to historian Benjamin Bland, “the SYM would go on to be crucial, both in defending Southall’s Asian population against the threat of racism and in helping to inspire the foundation of other Asian youth organisations across the UK”.

The SYM was also an explicitly anti-fascist organization, clashing with the fascist National Front (NF). After the murder of Chaggar, John Kingsley Read, a former chairman of the NF, stated “one down, a million to go”.

These tensions came to a climax when the NF attempted to hold a rally in Southall in 1979, leading to Blair Peach, a socialist schoolteacher, being killed by injuries sustained from police.