Thousands of people gathered in central London late on Monday to hold a vigil for black academic Jason Arday, blaming racism and relentless media pressure for his death last week.

The vigil in central Trafalgar Square came as the head of Cambridge University on Monday condemned a “racist feeding frenzy” prompted by plagiarism claims against Arday.

Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead on Friday aged 41, after mounting accusations he had plagiarised parts of his doctoral thesis and exaggerated some of his personal life achievements.

Chris Smith, the University of Cambridge’s chancellor, told the BBC he believed it was important for such claims to be “rigorously investigated”.

But amid a media storm surrounding the accusations, Smith added it was right to “refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic”.

Arday, who was diagnosed with autism and other developmental difficulties as a child, had disputed the allegations against him.