Muhiyidin Moye d'Baha: Who was the Black Lives Matter activist shot dead in New Orleans?

Friends and family of a Black Lives Matter activist who was shot dead in New Orleans have spoken out about his commitment to the fight for equality.

Muhiyidin Elamin Moye, also known as Muhiyidin d'Baha or Moya, was found by a police officer in the Treme neighbourhood of the city on Monday (5 February). He was asking for help after he had been shot in the thigh, USA Today reported. Moye died in hospital from excessive blood loss.

A trail of blood led for two blocks from the body, and a bloody bicycle was found across the street. Moye was visiting New Orleans when he died.

The circumstances of the shooting are not known.

The activist rose to fame when a video of him jumping a barrier and snatching a Confederate flag from an anti-Black Lives Matter protester went viral in 2017.

His death prompted an outpouring of praise from people who knew him.

"He was a strong leader who deeply understood the role of community and the power of helping other people recognise that role," DeRay Mckesson, a key BLM activist, told Associated Press.

"He was always fighting for justice, equality and fairness," his sister Kimberli Duncan, 46, told the New York Times.

"He always wanted to do for others. He never put himself first."

Who was Muhiyidin Elamin Moye?

He was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and raised in Hollywood, South Carolina, according to the Post and Courier.

Moye later became a member of the Charleston Black Lives Matter movement in South Carolina and was a frequent spokesman and participant.

He rose to prominence as an activist when he helped to release a video showing a police officer shooting dead Walter Scott, an unarmed black man.

In 2015, he spoke to the New York Times when then-presidential nominee Donald Trump called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US. "You would think we'd learn from history," said Moye, whose father was a Muslim.

Moye made international headlines in 2016, when he leapt over yellow police tape and grabbed a protester's Confederate flag live on TV after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston. Police tackled Moye to the floor and arrested him.

He told the Washington Post he wanted to "help the [protester] understand what it is to meet a real resistance, to meet people that aren't scared".

He was later arrested for interrupting a North Charleston City Council meeting to call on the committee to create a citizen's board to hold the police to account.