THOUSANDS of people supported a community festival to celebrate the end of Ramadan for fasting Muslims.

The Oxford Eid Extravaganza was organised voluntarily by a group which seeks to organise Eid events with the aim of bringing all communities together.

Organisers said the event had pulled in more than twice the number of people it had expected.

Shabnam Sabir, one of the festival’s organisers, said it was organised with the purpose of celebrating Eid – whether people were Muslims or not.

She said: “It’s been brilliant. It’s been really nice and we have had a lot of people from all backgrounds and ages. We have had children, we’ve had teenagers, we’ve had grandparents. It’s been lovely and had a really nice community feel.”

Organisers had hoped about 2,500 people would attend but said, even part-way through the event, the number of visitors had well exceeded that. By mid-afternoon, she said about 5,000 people had visited to enjoy the event.

Mrs Sabir said: “This is the biggest so far but we pushed out to all communities because we want to make sure all communities were part of it.”

She added food stalls showed the event’s diversity – with traders from countries including Hungary, Syria, Bangladesh and Alegria.

It had vast support from groups around the city, including TORCH Oxford,

There was a football tournament, for which teams from charities across Oxford were entered and Somalian Western Ballers emerged victorious.

visitors also enjoyed a falconry exhibit, children’s rides and a petting farm.

The event was organised by The Great Get Together, Cheney School and East Oxford Football.

Organisers said it was an attempt to celebrate the Eid for everyone, just like Christmas celebrations at fairs are not exclusively for Christians.

It was attended by the city council’s deputy Lord Mayor, Sajjad Malik, and Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds.

It took about three months to put everything together for Sunday’s extravaganza – Oxford’s third.

The Great Get Together coordinated events across the country in memory of MP Jo Cox. It was held over the weekend which would have been her 44th birthday.