A traditional Muslim ceremony in which participants whipped themselves on the back took to a street in Bradford city centre today.

Members of Bradford’s Shia Muslim community gathered for a public ceremony to mark the holy day of Ashura, the tenth day of the Muslim new year.

Several men stripped topless to depict the sufferings of their martyrs. The ceremony remembers Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, who like most of the Prophet’s family, died a martyr. Further commemorations continued into the evening at the Hussainia Islamic Mission in All Saints Road.