Andy Burnham reissued calls for calm this morning amid growing fears that ‘tensions could boil over’ after shocking new footage from Manchester Airport emerged last night.
Dramatic CCTV footage revealed that three police officers were ‘viciously’ attacked – leaving one with a broken nose and one slumped on the floor – moments before one of them kicked a teenager in the head.
It sheds new light on the situation that provoked uproar with allegations of police brutality and racism being made when videos of part of the violent ordeal were shared online as officers attempted to arrest 19-year-old Fahir Muhammed Amas.
The footage provoked uproar, with a series of anti-police protests held in Rochdale, where Fahir and his brother Ammad – who was also involved in the clash – are from.
Tensions were then raised further when Akhmed Yakoob, a controversial lawyer representing the two men, claimed that the incident had been an ‘attempted assassination’.
While senior police sources admitted one of officer seen kicking the teenager appears to have lost control, they insist the full picture is far more complicated than initially portrayed.
‘All three of the officers have been violently attacked,’ a well-connected source told the Mail this weekend. Sources believe some of the officers may even have temporarily lost consciousness during the outburst.
In a bid to quell tensions, Manchester Mayor Mr Burnham once again insisted there were ‘two sides’ to this ‘complicated situation’ which escalated ‘very quickly’ and became a ‘very violent situation’.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham once again insisted there were ‘two sides’ to this ‘complicated situation’ which escalated ‘very quickly’ and became a ‘very violent situation’
Lawyer Akhmed Yakoob (centre) with Fahir (left) and Amaad Khan (right). He has said ‘justice must prevail’ after footage of the Manchester Airport incident went viral
‘These situations can be quite dangerous. people’s careers are put on the line in these situations,’ the mayor told BBC Breakfast this morning.
‘We all feel for the police officers who were injured as a result of what happens and there is a whole lot of stuff that comes together and it’s really important we do it better the next time.’
When probed on how long the police investigation could take, Mr Burnham said ‘you can’t put a timeline on these things’ but hoped it would be completed ‘as quickly as possible given the huge interest in the whole issue’.
He went on to criticise the ‘social media age’, calling for people to consider the whole picture before making a snap judgement.
Mr Burnham added: ‘We live in a world where we see a fragment and everyone rushes to judgement.’
‘If the whole picture had been put out straight away it would enabled people to make a more rounded judgement. But it is not always as easy as that because sometimes footage could be used in a trial and it can’t be put out as could impact potential proceedings.
‘The social media age we are living in now, people end up taking a side, but life is more complicated and the truth often lies in between. And did tell people to be careful and that it was a very complicated situation.’
Fahir (pictured) is seen punching a female police officer in the face, breaking her nose, before knocking down a second woman office
The two brothers are being represented by ‘TikTok lawyer’ Akhmed Yakoob
Mr Burnham this morning criticised the ‘social media age’ where people are able to view just a ‘fragment’ of a situation
The dramatic CCTV footage, which emerged online last night, shows:
- Fahir punching a female police officer in the face, breaking her nose, before knocking down a second woman officer;
- His brother Amaad throwing a barrage of ‘full-blooded’ punches at an armed male officer, leaving him stunned and slumped on the floor;
- Fahir punching the male officer and grabbing him by the neck in a ‘chokehold’, which he released only when one of the female officers tasered him.
Mr Burnham added while speaking on Sky News: ‘It’s a complicated situation, a very violent situation and there were issues on both sides.
‘And that’s why I asked other people not to rush tojudgement because of the complexity of it.
‘And simply nobody out there – everyone who’s having their say – nobody has got the facts’.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was plunged into crisis last week after several videos of the violence, recorded on mobile phones by onlookers, were posted online.
They showed Fahir being kicked in the head and stamped on by a male officer as he lay on the ground in an airport car park on Tuesday night.
Amid chaotic scenes, the same male officer was then seen ordering Amaad, 25, on to the floor, stamping on his thigh and hitting him on the back of his head.
Despite their lawyer Mr Yakoob being accused of sparking more chaos on the streets of Rochdale, in a TikTok video last night the lawyer insisted he ‘does not promote violence’.
He claimed he had been ‘behind the deescalation of the whole situation’ by ‘urging protesters to go home’
‘Definitely at some points there was a concern that the tensions might boil over – there’s not hiding from that,’ Neil Emmott, the leader of Rochdale borough council said.
Fahir’s family had urged protesters not to attend any more protests at Manchester Airport in a statement on Friday night, telling people to ‘refrain’ from attending the planned demonstration.
‘We would not like anyone to be inconvenienced as a result,’ they wrote on social media.
Meanwhile Muslim community leaders condemned the ‘absolute condemnation of the horrific actions’ of some GMP officers before reassuring locals that a ‘full and proper investigation will take place with community engagement’.
As Ammad Amas throws a barrage of punches at a male police officer, his brother Fahir Muhammed Amas smashes a female officer in the face, breaking her nose and making her fall to the ground
Fahir immediately rounds on a female firearms officer and lets fly with a thumping right-handed punch
He then unleashes a devastating left-hander and knocks her to her knees
Fahir now rounds on the male officer, who has a Taser trained on his brother Amaad, and jumps on his back
He puts a chokehold on the male officer and begins dragging him away from his brother
The female firearms officer staggers to her feet and tasers Fahir, bringing him crashing to the ground
The male officer has been told by the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog (IOPC) that he is facing a criminal probe for assault and will be interviewed under caution ‘as soon as possible‘.
Until last night, little has been known about what happened in the moments leading up to the events captured by other passengers on their mobile phones – or how things escalated.
The Mail on Sunday, however, has spoken to a well-informed source with detailed knowledge of the controversial incident.
Last night, as the extraordinary CCTV footage emerged online, the source gave the first blow-by-blow account of what is alleged to have happened.
It is understood that Fahir and Amaad travelled to Manchester Airport to meet their mother, who is believed to have flown there from Pakistan via Doha in Qatar on a Qatar Airways flight.
Words are said to have been exchanged between their mother and a male passenger on board the flight, which landed at 7.20pm.
The argument is thought to have continued in the baggage hall of Terminal 2, with claims that the male passenger pushed his trolley into the men’s mother.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham last night described the incident as ‘a complicated situation with two sides to it’, adding: ‘It is why I urged people not to rush to judgement’
Anti-police protesters throw eggs at Rochdale Police Station on Thursday night
Demonstrators hold Union Flags with the words ‘No Justice No Peace’ in Manchester on Thursday
At 8.22pm, after the woman met her two sons and told them about the incident on the flight, a ‘violent altercation’ erupted in a Starbucks coffee shop within the terminal. Two armed police officers, a man and a woman, along with a female patrol officer responded to the call and intercepted the woman passenger and her two sons at 8.28pm on the ground floor of Terminal 2’s West car park.
The CCTV footage reveals the three officers attempted to arrest Fahir as he used a car park ticket machine.
He is shown resisting before Amaad throws a barrage of at least six punches at the male police officer, who crumples on to a row of metal seats.
‘The male police officer went forward to arrest him and put hands on him,’ the source said. ‘The lad resisted arrest and rained absolute full-blooded punches at the officer. The officer slumped down at the side of the vending machine while that lad was raining punches on him.’
Fahir is then shown lashing out, first punching one female officer in the side of the head and then smashing the second woman officer in the face, knocking her off her feet and leaving her sprawled on the floor.
The second female officer, who has red hair and is seen in the mobile phone footage apparently dazed and holding her head, suffered a broken nose.
‘All the punches were full-blooded haymakers,’ the source said. ‘He smashed the red-haired officer in the face, poleaxed her basically, flattened her out and broke her nose. How can you smash a woman police officer in the face? It is vile.’
The footage then shows Fahir throwing at least another four punches at the first female officer, who is knocked to her knees.
‘He was pummelling her,’ the source said. ‘And I’m told she has temporarily lost consciousness.
‘So he has broken the red-haired officer’s nose and then, when he is grabbed by the firearms officer, he has launched in on her, raining vicious blows on her.’
Last night Paul Waugh, the newly elected Labour MP for Rochdale, said: ‘All our communities in Rochdale are united in a strong belief in the rule of law, that the criminal justice system should follow the evidence wherever it leads, that offenders should be punished appropriately’
By this point the male officer had got back to his feet and was aiming his Taser at Amaad. Fahir, however, is shown charging into the back of the male officer, punching him in the head before grabbing him around the neck.
‘He [the male police officer] doesn’t know what is happening other than he is being choked from behind,’ the source said.
It is claimed the male officer suffered a suspected broken jaw and may also have been temporarily knocked out.
The fight ended only when the first female officer was able to stagger back to her feet and fire her Taser at Fahir, which knocked him over.
‘She tasered him,’ the source said. ‘That knocked him down to the ground, so he released the chokehold.’ It is at this point – as seen by millions in the mobile phone footage – that the male police officer kicks Fahir in the head and apparently stamps on him as he lies on the floor.
The source conceded the officer – who has since been suspended by GMP – appeared to have been gripped by a ‘red mist’ but stressed that airports are ‘high risk’ locations and that the two armed officers would have been concerned about having their firearms snatched from them.
‘You can’t have people attacking, choking a police officer, who has got a firearm on his side,’ the source said. ‘If that had been a French or an Italian airport, the police officers would possibly have shot them dead.’
Sources also fear that the officers involved could be forced into hiding – in a disturbing echo of an incident in 2021 when a religious studies teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire was forced to leave his home after showing a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in class.
‘We could end up with another Batley Grammar School situation here,’ the source said.
Chants of ‘We want them sacked’ were heard during a huge protest in Manchester on Thursday
Some protesters built a makeshift barricade outside Rochdale Police Station on Thursday night
Other sources have suggested that the new revelations might still not be the full picture of what was a hugely chaotic incident.
One source last week reportedly claimed the brothers said their mother had been ‘hit in the face and we were being treated unfairly’.
A family member yesterday denied the brother had instigated the violence. ‘No, they did not fight first,’ they said. ‘The police officer hurt his mum and that’s when he tried to protect his mum. I don’t know the full story.’
Mr Yakoob – who has been dubbed the ‘TikTok lawyer’ because of his regular social media videos – declined to comment on the account given to the MoS. However, he added: ‘Right now the brothers are resting after going through a lot of trauma.’
On Wednesday, a large crowd gathered outside Rochdale police station, reportedly shouting ‘GMP shame on you’, while on Thursday demonstrators blocked roads and tram lines which started outside Mr Burnham’s office in central Manchester.
Last night Paul Waugh, the newly elected Labour MP for Rochdale, said: ‘All our communities in Rochdale are united in a strong belief in the rule of law, that the criminal justice system should follow the evidence wherever it leads, that offenders should be punished appropriately.
‘No one should be above the law, whether that is the police or anyone else.
‘When I met the Assistant Chief Constable on Thursday, I passed on my concerns for the female police officer and others injured in the run-up to this incident.
‘As I’ve said consistently throughout this, the police face a very difficult job every day in keeping us all safe and both the investigation by GMP and the IOPC investigation into the police officer’s conduct should gather the full facts.
‘The footage of the officer kicking a man on the ground remains shocking. It’s right that the case was referred to the IOPC and that the officer was suspended.’
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of assault, assault of an emergency worker, affray and obstructing police. Two other men have been arrested on suspicion of affray and assault of an emergency worker.
The four men, aged between 19 and 31, have since been bailed.
Mr Burnham said: ‘It is frustrating that we have not been able to put more video into the public domain but that is because this is a live investigation.
‘People need to step back and allow the IOPC’s criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct to move forward, alongside the parallel GMP investigation into other potential offences, so that a complete picture can be presented.’
GMP last week said three officers ‘were subject to a violent assault, where they were punched to the ground’ and taken to hospital.
In a new statement issued on Friday night, GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson added: ‘It is a source of profound regret that this week’s incident at Manchester Airport has caused shock and upset in some of our communities.
‘While we are constrained in releasing further information or footage about the incident due to the conduct and criminal investigations, we are committed to providing the fullest practical assistance to the IOPC.’
