Vigil planned for gay man murdered in Trafalgar Square

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A vigil has been organised to pay tribute to Ian Baynham, the gay man who died this week after being attacked in London’s Trafalgar Square.

The event was planned by members of a Facebook group called 17-24-30, which remembers those killed and injured by Soho bomber David Copeland. It was responsible for organising the London vigil after the Tel Aviv gay shooting in August.

It will be held between 8 and 10pm in Trafalgar Square on Friday, October 30th.

Organiser Mark Healey told PinkNews.co.uk: “As I helped . . . organise the Tel Aviv Vigil, people have asked if we could do the same for Ian, initially to organise something straight away. This was discussed after the consultative group meeting last night and it was decided that it would be best to wait until the following week – Friday October 30th in Trafalgar Square. It’s important that we all consider Ian’s family and friends and give them an opportunity to deal with what has happened.”

Healey added: “It’s important to give people a chance to gather and express their feelings about this awful situation. It’s an opportunity for people to share their grief, these type of events enable people to connect with one another and I personally hope that by encouraging this we can bring people together in a positive way, to turn something so tragic into something that can lead to some eventual good.

“Just like we have done after other situations like this – like the London nail bomb attacks – which thankfully had the opposite effect of what they were intended to do. We need to unite against all forms of hate crime, stand together and say out loud that this is no longer acceptable in our society any more.”

Baynham was out celebrating a new job with his friend on September 25th. It is thought that he confronted three teenagers after they hurled homophobic abuse at him.

The male youth then punched him, knocking him to the ground, while the girls began kicking him.

He died in hospital on Tuesday night when his family took the decision to switch off his life support machine.

Today, police revealed that three teenagers have been arrested in connection with the killing.

Two 17-year-old females and one 18-year-old male were arrested at their homes in south-east London.

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