Bangladeshi student killed in US police firing protests

Hundreds of people protested to demand justice for the death of Bangladeshi-American student who was shot by the police in the city of Boston, Cambridge. Expressing anger and frustration over the incident last week, they protested on Monday local time to demand justice.

According to the concerned authorities, Saeed Faisal (20) is a student of Massachusetts Boston University. He was killed by a police officer on January 4. According to the police, the deceased Faisal had a kukri in his hand. He was coming towards the police. When he failed to stop, shots were fired at him. Note that Kukri is a type of small knife, which is popular in South Asia (Nepal).

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Protesters held placards reading 'Justice for Faisal' and 'Faisal needs help, not bullets' at a rally organized by the Bangladesh Association of New England outside Cambridge City Hall. During this time his friends and teachers remember his friendliness, positive attitude and intelligence.

An independent judicial inquiry has been initiated in this incident. The results of this investigation will be forwarded to the Middlesex District Attorney's office. The validity of the complaints will be verified there and this process may take a year or more.

Faisal's parents said in a speech to the Council on American-Islamic Relations that Faisal, known to his family as 'Prince', was their only child. He has never been known to be violent and has never had any prior involvement with law enforcement. Residents of Cambridge said, "We are completely devastated and can't believe our son is gone." Prince was a wonderful, loving, caring, generous, supportive and extremely family oriented man.

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Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, City Manager Yi-An Huang, Middlesex District Attorney Marianne Ryan and Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elo are all expected to attend a community meeting Thursday to discuss the incident and answer questions from the public. However, authorities have not released the name of the officer who opened fire.

The officer, who is on paid administrative leave, has seven years of experience in that category, police spokesman Jeremy Wernick said Monday. No such allegations have been made against him before. According to the preliminary investigation, police received a 911 call from a resident on Wednesday afternoon.

He told the police that a man was seen jumping from the window of one apartment with a knife. Officers and paramedics found Faisal lying on a path in a pool of blood.