On 18 August 2011, al-Yaqoubi led prayers from a stage in Summerfield Park, Winson Green, Birmingham to some 20,000 people who gathered to remember three men killed while attempting to protect their neighbourhood from rioters and looters during the England riots. At the ceremony he said that "they made themselves an example of what a Muslim should be and what Islam is" and that "these three people are martyrs and the best we can do for them is to pray for them and for ourselves - to pray for our community." He asked for 18 August to be made a "day not of mourning and sadness but a day of bravery."&lt;