Thousands of people, including friends and former students, gathered on Monday at a vigil in Trafalgar Square for Jason Arday, a 41-year-old Cambridge University professor who died amid allegations of plagiarism.

The academic, accused of plagiarising his academic work and exaggerating his achievements, was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at an apartment in London on Friday.

Mr Arday’s death came days after he resigned, after the institution announced it would investigate him over new information that cast his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments” in a new light.

The London Inner South Coroner’s Court said an investigation would be carried out to determine Mr Arday’s cause of death, which could take several weeks.

On Monday, mourners dressed in black were seen carrying signs bearing different inscriptions, including ‘Rest in power professor Jason Arday’, ‘Stand up to racism’, ‘Stop racist media now’ and others.

The gathering, which drew several prominent Black British public figures, including politicians Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler, filmmaker Misan Harriman, was meant to honour Mr Jason’s life and achievements as his family described his death as extremely “painful”.

The university’s chancellor, Lord Smith, who spoke publicly for the first time since Mr Arday’s death, said academic integrity could be upheld while questioning Mr Arday’s treatment.

“I do believe it is possible to hold to two principles at the same time: to believe in the importance of academic integrity, and where criticisms of plagiarism arise, about any academic, whoever they are, ensure that they are rigorously investigated. And also to refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic,” Mr Smith said.

A statement by Mr Arday’s family, read at the vigil by a Labour member of parliament for Clapham & Brixton Hill, Bell Ribeiro Addy, blamed public cruelty for Mr Arday’s death while reflecting on the kindness of people during these difficult times.

“This has been an incredibly painful time for our family, and we are still coming to terms with the tragic loss of our beloved Jason. What has become clear over the past 72 hours is the profound impact he had on people.

“We are grateful to all who have created light in this dark time through kindness, generosity and solidarity. Your presence here to remember him this evening means a lot to us, and while we cannot be there in person, please know that we stand with you in spirit.

“The public cruelty Jason was subjected to was too much for any man to bear. The outpouring of love, support and grief since his death means so much to us, although it is bittersweet. Kindness is needed in life, not just in death. We’ll never know what might have been different had he experienced more of it while he was still here,” the statement noted.

The vigil came hours after Patrick Vernon, a British cultural historian of Jamaican heritage and pro-chancellor of Wolverhampton University, set up a GoFundMe with a £200,000 target to support Mr Arday’s family with funeral and associated costs.