Friends of an Iranian asylum-seeker killed in a street stabbing will today stage a protest march and vigil in his memory.

Payman Bahmani died in hospital after two groups of men, one white the other Iranian, clashed in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, on Wednesday afternoon.

Police were treating the murder as a ''racially motivated'' attack. Twenty members of the Iranian community yesterday marched on Sunderland Police Station in protest at his death.

And they were planning to march again today from the Norfolk Hotel in Norfolk Street, Sunderland, back to the police station.

They were also planning to hold a silent vigil in Peel Street where Mr Bahmani was stabbed.

One Iranian asylum-seeker, 30-year-old Babak, said: ''A lot of my friends and other people will gather for the march.

''We need answers from the authorities. We need someone to say 'We will protect you'. At the moment nobody can say that.''

Mr Bahmani died in Sunderland Royal Infirmary after a confrontation on Peel Street in the Hendon area of Sunderland.

* Two men and a woman were in custody helping police with their inquiries into the stabbing.