HUNDREDS of people across Lancashire have come together to remember and honour the millions killed in the Holocaust.

Yesterday, events were staged across the county to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

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The day of respect and remembrance was started by the government in 2001 and takes place every year on January 27.

The national commemoration day is dedicated to the remembrance of those who suffered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution, and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

This year’s event was particularly poignant as it marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and 2015 is the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia.

The issue of anti-Semitism was also brought to the fore recently, after the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris by Islamic extremists who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attacks Jews have again been facing a growing wave of anti-Semitism from people provoking hate crimes, and many French Jews said they were planning to leave France in the wake of the attacks.

In Lancashire, people from all sections of the community gathered to remember.

Lancashire Police held a commemorative service at force HQ.

Guest speakers talked about the Holocaust and Nazi persecution and included Rabbi Guttentag, humanist Ian Abbott, a representative from Lancashire Council of Mosques, and Roma gipsy Seb Smith.

Lancashire Police cadets also produced a display and gave a presentation, discussing how researching the Holocaust had made them feel and what they had learned, and balloons were released after the service.

In Accrington, Hyndburn Council leader Miles Parkinson, and mayor, Councillor Munsif Dad, were joined by faith representatives and members of the public in the council chamber to light candles in memory of the six million people who lost their lives during the Holocaust and the four million people who have lost their lives in subsequent genocides.

A plaque was also installed in Accrington Town Hall to raise awareness of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Cllr Dad said: “We had representatives from various faiths, leaders from the Church of England, the Catholic Church, our Imam from the local mosque, and we were privileged to have representative from Manchester synagogue.

“We had quite a number of representatives from the community, as well as young children from local schools participating, and we held a minute’s silence.

“It’s absolutely important to remember victims of genocide, and for the communities who suffered to be remembered, and to remember that there is evil still around in the 21st century.”

In Blackburn the Interfaith Forum also organised a commemoration event in the Council Chamber at Blackburn Town Hall.

And students from across the county who visited Auschwitz in November with the Holocaust Education Trust also did their bit to mark the day, by speaking to others about their visit to the death camp.